Chatfield Trail

Chatfield Trail
One of the Chatfield Trail rock caves (and formations) hikers squeeze through.]
Length	4.6 miles (7.4 km)
Location	Middlesex County, Connecticut, USA
Designation	CFPA Blue-Blazed Trail
Trailheads	Start: Connecticut Route 80, Killingworth. End: Paper Mill Road, Killingworth.
Use	hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, fishing, geocaching, other
Highest point	890 ft (270 m)
Lowest point	Hammonasset River along southern Paper Mill Road
Difficulty	Moderate with some easy and hard sections
Sights	fat man's squeeze and other rock formations, Forster Pond, Deer Lake
Hazards	hunters, deer ticks, poison ivy

The Chatfield Trail is a 4.6-mile Blue-Blazed hiking trail located within the town of Killingworth, Connecticut.

The northern trailhead is directly across from Chatfield Hollow State Park on Route 80. There is a good parking area outside the park's entrance. The trailhead is well marked on the South side of Route 80 just across the street from the park's entrance. The one-way route is 4.6 miles to the southern trailhead on River Road though there is also a 0.75-mile alternate trail that loops off the main trail.

There is also a second northern trailhead entrance that is located on the south side of Route 80, about 0.3 miles west of the park entrance where there is a rough pullover area for 4 or 5 cars. From this old trailhead you can take a short 0.1-mile Blue and White trail east to the Blue-Blaze trail.

The northern section of the trail is located within Cockaponset State Forest. The southern sections of the trail pass near Deer Lake Camp and through privately owned property ending at River Road, just west of the intersection of Papermill Road and River Road. River Road has a small pullover for 1 or 2 cars that can be used to access the southern trailhead.

Further reading

Books – Connecticut hiking []

• Colson, Ann T. (2005). Connecticut Walk Book East (19 ed.). Rockfall, Connecticut: Connecticut Forest and Park Association. pp. 1–261. ISBN 0961905255.
• Colson, Ann T. (2006). Connecticut Walk Book West (19 ed.). Rockfall, Connecticut: Connecticut Forest and Park Association. pp. 1–353. ISBN 0961905263.
• Emblidge, David (1998). Hikes in southern New England: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont (1 ed.). Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. pp. 1–304. ISBN 0-8117-2669-X.
• Keyarts, Eugene (2002). Pietrzyk, Cindi Dale (ed.). Short Nature Walks: Connecticut Guide Book (7 ed.). Guilford, Connecticut: Falcon Publishing. pp. 1–192. ISBN 0-7627-2310-6.
• Laubach, Rene; Smith, Charles W. G. (2007). AMC's Best Day Hikes in Connecticut (1 ed.). Guilford, Connecticut: Appalachian Mountain Club Books. pp. 1–320. ISBN 1-934028-10-X.
• Ostertag, Rhonda; Ostertag, George (2002). Hiking Southern New England (2 ed.). Guilford, Connecticut: Falcon Publishing. pp. 1–336. ISBN 0-7627-2246-0.

Books – Connecticut history and geography []

• De Forest, John (1853). History of the Indians of Connecticut from the earliest known period to 1850. Hartford, Connecticut: Wm. Jas. Hamersley. pp. 1–509.
• Hayward, John (1857). New England Gazetteer: Containing Descriptions of the States, Counties, Cities and Towns of New England (2 ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Otis Clapp. pp. 1–704.
• Trumbull, Benjamin (1797). A Complete History of Connecticut - Civil and Ecclesiastical. Vol. I (1818 printing ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Maltby, Goldsmith & Co. and Samuel Wadsworth. pp. 1–1166.
• Trumbull, Benjamin (1797). A Complete History of Connecticut - Civil and Ecclesiastical. Vol. II (1818 printing ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Maltby, Goldsmith & Co. and Samuel Wadsworth. pp. 1–1166.