Natchaug Trail

Natchaug Trail
Natchaug Trail northern trailhead at intersection with Nipmuck Trail in Ashford, CT
Length	19.5 miles (31.4 km) [1]
Location	Windham County, Connecticut, USA
Designation	CFPA Blue-Blazed Trail
Use	hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, fishing, geocaching, other
Hazards	hunters, deer ticks, poison ivy

The Natchaug Trail is a Blue-Blazed hiking trail "system" which meanders through 19.5 miles (31.4 km) of forests in northeast Connecticut—primarily in Windham County. It is maintained by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association. Its southern trailhead begins in the James L. Goodwin State Forest in the towns of Chaplin, Connecticut and Hampton, Connecticut and the northern terminus is at its intersection with the Nipmuck Trail in Natchaug State Forest in Eastford, Connecticut.

For much of its length the Natchaug Trail travels through two Connecticut state forests—the James L. Goodwin State Forest and Natchaug State Forest as well as the much smaller Nathaniel Lyons Memorial Park. Camping permits may be obtained by backpackers for both state forests.

In addition to the Nipmuck Trail there are several smaller hiking trails which connect to the Natchaug Trail as well as several park and forest roads and the multi-use Airline State Park Linear Trail.

In Natchaug State Forest the CCC Trail is a historic loop trail which was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Two of the several trails inside the James L. Goodwin State Forest are connected to the Natchaug Trail have recently been blazed as official CFPA trails. According to signs at the James L. Goodwin State Forest the White Trail is being (or has been) re-blazed as a blue-white trail named the "Pine Acres Lake View Trail". A CFPA blue-orange blazed trail also intersects with the Natchaug Trail during the stretch between Pine Acres Lake and Black Spruce Pond.