 Off-Road & 4X4 Trail Report: SlaughterHouse Gulch |
|---|
| |
| Rating Information |
 Difficult - Very rocky, lots of baby heads, very technical. |
| Summary |
 | Slaughterhouse is a real nice trip that can be run easily out of Denver in a few hours. The trail is a loop and is maintained by one of the local clubs. The major obstacles are some steep hills that get moguled up but the trail should not be any problem for a stock 4x4. Most major obstacles have bypasses. |
|
| Trail Report |
| We decided to run Slaughterhouse as a warm up for the season. I had heard that it was a fairly tame but fun trail and decided that we should give it a shot. A few of us met near C-470 and 285 in Denver at 9:30AM and headed down 285 to the trailhead. It didn't take us long to get to Crow Hill and from there to the start of the trail. We though we were getting close to the start when a large rutted, rocky, stumpy, and steep hill loomed infront of us. We figured this was the start and headed up it. A few spun tires later we were at the top where we enountered a 'Y'. (It turns out that this is a shortcut that gets you onto the trail. The actual trailhead was a bit farther down the road and leads you to the top of the hill - the easy way. This was the left branch...) We decided to go right and kept going. The trail was fairly easy, a few rocks and holes here and there, nothing major. About halfway through the trail started getting wet in places and this is where things started to get a bit more interesting. Another long up-hill climb led to some big holes and some nice sections where articulation helped. Beyond that was what seemed like a long rocky/bumpy section that led gradually down hill. Finally, the trail ended back on the main road just a few turns down from where we started. We were back in Denver by 2:00PM. |
| How to Get There |
| Conifer Area - From Denver, take Highway 285 West through Conifer. Watch for a right turn labeled Deer Creek (CR 43). Follow this road to Highland Park. Look for FR 101 and follow that to signs marking Slaughterhouse Gulch. |
| Trail Maps (1:100,000 scale) |
Topo Map | 
Elevation Profile |
(click image for a larger map) |
|
| GPS Information |
 | Trailhead: 39.4979 N , 105.5295 W | 
(Build a map from these coords) |
|
| Additional Resources |
This trail is in the:
 Pike National Forest
|