Naugatuck Trail

The Naugatuck Trail is a 6.8mi Blue-Blazed hiking trail "system" in the eastern central-lower Naugatuck River Valley in New Haven County, Connecticut, USA and is today almost entirely contained in the Naugatuck State Forest. The mainline (officially the "Blue" or "non-dot") trail is primarily east to west with three short side or spur trails.The Naugatuck Trail today is composed of four trails including the primarily East-to-West mainline trail (5.5 miles) plus three shorter side trails. At its western end the trail ends with a section alongside Route 8 and the Naugatuck River.Notable features include the summits of Beacon Cap and Spruce Knoll. The trail goes near, but does not summit Beacon Hill (670 feet). The Naugatuck Trail is maintained largely through the efforts of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association.The Naugatuck Trail was a much larger trail in the 1930s and 1940s but it has been one of the trail systems most drastically shrunk by post–World War II housing developments of the Connecticut Blue-Blazed Trails.Trail descriptionThe Naugatuck Trail extends from its western terminus at Andrasko Road in Naugatuck as an abandoned North-South road and fence-line along Connecticut Route 8 before heading east crossing successively the municipalities of Naugatuck, Beacon Falls and Bethany—all in New Haven County.