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The Story of the Yawgoog Trails

Quick Reference Summary: Blue Trail

Total distance: approximately 1.25 miles (2 kilometers)
Total hiking time: approximately 25 minutes

Caution: Hikers should be very careful, by wearing at least 400 square inches (2,580 square centimeters) of blaze orange material, such as a vest, when hiking the Blue Trail during Connecticut's deer hunting season (November - December). Hunting is prohibited in Yawgoog.

The trail starts from Camp Yawgoog Road, about 0.75 mile (1.2 kilometers) west of the Sandy Beach dining hall; walk single-file on the left side of the road. Leaving the road, the Blue Trail follows the Rhode Island/Connecticut border almost due north; Dinosaur Caves and Cliffs will be reached within roughly nine minutes. An intersection of trails and a nearby cave are about three minutes away from Dinosaur Caves.

From the intersection, Yawgoog's Blue Trail follows the Freeman Trail, which overlaps part of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) Tippecansett Trail to the right (east) and is marked in both blue and yellow; the AMC Narragansett Trail (also marked in blue) continues to the left (northwest) from the intersection to Green Fall Pond. The Blue/Freeman Trail descends a steep, rocky path and crosses over a bog bridge, then crosses an enormous ledge called Dinosaur Rock. The Tippecansett trail bears left (north), while the Blue Trail bears right (east), back to camp. There are blue arrows on the ledge to mark the way to Yawgoog.

About 2 minutes after leaving the ledge, the trail soon passes the junction of the former mountain biking trail on the left (northeast). (The mountain bike path rises to the top of Hill 431 in approximately 4.5 minutes; after Hill 431, it reaches the Tippecansett Trail in about 4.5 minutes -- approximately 0.4 mile/0.6 kilometer in total length.) From the intersection with the bike trail, the trail heads south, but then turns to the southeast, crossing an intermittent stream. After leaving the bike trail juncture, it is about 0.3 mile (0.5 kilometer), or about 9 minutes, to the junction of the White Trail to Hidden Lake on the right (south). Sherwood Forest and the way back to camp are straight ahead (southeast).

For the full description of this hike, please see the Blue Trail.