Slaughter Canyon Trail, Carlsbad Caverns National Park
New Mexico > Carlsbad Caverns National Park > Hiking > Slaughter Canyon Trail
Slaughter Canyon Trail
Rather long trail up a wide limestone canyon filled with plants of the Chihuahuan Desert, including some uncommon cacti. Towards the end, the path climbs a ridge between north and middle forks of the drainage, following this to the junction with the Guadalupe Ridge Trail
Length: 5.3 miles
Elevation change: 1,850 feet
Difficulty: Moderate - relatively long, and exposed
Type: One way
Usage: Low
Season: All year, though very hot in summer
Trailhead: At the end of Gartersnake Road, 40 miles from the national park visitor center
Rating (1-5): ★★★★★
Elevation change: 1,850 feet
Difficulty: Moderate - relatively long, and exposed
Type: One way
Usage: Low
Season: All year, though very hot in summer
Trailhead: At the end of Gartersnake Road, 40 miles from the national park visitor center
Rating (1-5): ★★★★★
The Slaughter Canyon Trail is one of three long, little-used routes into the arid backcountry of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, receiving slightly more visitors than the other two, Guadalupe Ridge Trail and Yucca Canyon Trail, since it contains a number of caves, one of which, Slaughter Canyon Cave, is sometimes explorable along guided tours but like all such caves is securely closed at other times.
Attractions of the canyon trail then are not the caves, but instead the solitude, the Chihuahuan Desert plants, which include a few rare cactus species, and the stark scenery, though the hillsides, the peaks and the ridges are in general somewhat barren, lacking any trees or distinctive rocky summits.
The hike starts from a parking area at the end of a good gravel road, equipped with basic NPS facilities; the path leads up the canyon, which stays wide for the next 2 miles, narrowing once beyond the junction of the north and middle forks, up to a short section of potholes and slickrock (in the north fork). From here the trail climbs above and follows a ridge between the two ravines, becoming almost flat towards the end, where it joins the Guadalupe Ridge Trail. Some, or maybe most people seem to stop at the rocky section; the path above here is narrower and noticeably less traveled.
Slaughter Canyon is named after pioneer settler Charles Slaughter, who raised cattle in the vicinity in the 1880s.
Map of Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
21 views of Slaughter Canyon.
The driving route to Slaughter Canyon leaves US 180, 5.4 miles south of the main national park turn-off, crossing flat, dusty ranchland for 11 miles, and is paved up to the park boundary, then gravel for the final mile to the trailhead parking area, which is equipped with restrooms, benches and noticeboard. It or other places along the track may be suitable for primitive camping. There are multiple junctions along the way, most signed to the cave. The route is along Washington Ranch Road, then Collwell Ranch Road and finally Gartersnake Road.
The trail heads north from the parking area, through a bushy corridor then briefly alongside the broad, dry streambed at the mouth of the canyon before turning away to the west, crossing a drab, dusty flat with scattered mesquite trees. It rounds a protruding section of the canyon sides, the gradient increasing slightly, and soon is passing more varied desert plants including many specimens of green sotol. The equally wide west fork of the canyon joins on the left then after another bend, much more of the main fork comes in to view. The path returns to the streambed for a while, over a floor of white limestone pebbles, where the route is marked by cairns. It moves away to the west, through more sotol and mesquite, before returning to the streambed, soon after which the canyon divides again with the middle fork joining on the left, and the path continuing up the north fork to the right.
Next is a curvier section, with more grass, bushes and wildflowers, and shallower canyon sides. The track briefly rises to a bench, to cut off a bend, this opposite a lesser tributary to the east, which a little way above contains the large entrance to a cave - Goat Cave. Past here the path comes back to the creekbed for the last time, shortly before a narrow rocky section with potholes (tinajas) and water-carved channels through pure white limestone.
From the canyon floor just before the tinajas, the path climbs quite steeply to a minor saddle, on which stand two burnt trees, then continues to rise steadily for about a mile, gaining 1000 feet, mostly while traversing the slopes just below the narrow ridge that divides the middle and north forks. Eventually it reaches another saddle, one that provides the first views down into the middle fork, generally narrower, bendier and more steep-sided than the north branch. Both canyons now look a long way below. The slopes around the saddle are good places for cacti, including button cactus, Sneed's pincushion cactus, brown flowered cactus and cob beehive cactus.
A short climb takes the route up to a small peak, then after a brief descent up a little more to a second, and finally down and up to a more elongated third, this just before the end of path at the intersection with the Guadalupe Ridge Trail which stays fairly level for several miles in either direction, running all along the central crest of the mountains.
Attractions of the canyon trail then are not the caves, but instead the solitude, the Chihuahuan Desert plants, which include a few rare cactus species, and the stark scenery, though the hillsides, the peaks and the ridges are in general somewhat barren, lacking any trees or distinctive rocky summits.
The hike starts from a parking area at the end of a good gravel road, equipped with basic NPS facilities; the path leads up the canyon, which stays wide for the next 2 miles, narrowing once beyond the junction of the north and middle forks, up to a short section of potholes and slickrock (in the north fork). From here the trail climbs above and follows a ridge between the two ravines, becoming almost flat towards the end, where it joins the Guadalupe Ridge Trail. Some, or maybe most people seem to stop at the rocky section; the path above here is narrower and noticeably less traveled.
Slaughter Canyon is named after pioneer settler Charles Slaughter, who raised cattle in the vicinity in the 1880s.
Location
Map of Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
Photographs
21 views of Slaughter Canyon.
Slaughter Canyon Video
Road to the Trailhead
The driving route to Slaughter Canyon leaves US 180, 5.4 miles south of the main national park turn-off, crossing flat, dusty ranchland for 11 miles, and is paved up to the park boundary, then gravel for the final mile to the trailhead parking area, which is equipped with restrooms, benches and noticeboard. It or other places along the track may be suitable for primitive camping. There are multiple junctions along the way, most signed to the cave. The route is along Washington Ranch Road, then Collwell Ranch Road and finally Gartersnake Road.
Start of the Trail
The trail heads north from the parking area, through a bushy corridor then briefly alongside the broad, dry streambed at the mouth of the canyon before turning away to the west, crossing a drab, dusty flat with scattered mesquite trees. It rounds a protruding section of the canyon sides, the gradient increasing slightly, and soon is passing more varied desert plants including many specimens of green sotol. The equally wide west fork of the canyon joins on the left then after another bend, much more of the main fork comes in to view. The path returns to the streambed for a while, over a floor of white limestone pebbles, where the route is marked by cairns. It moves away to the west, through more sotol and mesquite, before returning to the streambed, soon after which the canyon divides again with the middle fork joining on the left, and the path continuing up the north fork to the right.
Tinajas
Next is a curvier section, with more grass, bushes and wildflowers, and shallower canyon sides. The track briefly rises to a bench, to cut off a bend, this opposite a lesser tributary to the east, which a little way above contains the large entrance to a cave - Goat Cave. Past here the path comes back to the creekbed for the last time, shortly before a narrow rocky section with potholes (tinajas) and water-carved channels through pure white limestone.
Cacti
From the canyon floor just before the tinajas, the path climbs quite steeply to a minor saddle, on which stand two burnt trees, then continues to rise steadily for about a mile, gaining 1000 feet, mostly while traversing the slopes just below the narrow ridge that divides the middle and north forks. Eventually it reaches another saddle, one that provides the first views down into the middle fork, generally narrower, bendier and more steep-sided than the north branch. Both canyons now look a long way below. The slopes around the saddle are good places for cacti, including button cactus, Sneed's pincushion cactus, brown flowered cactus and cob beehive cactus.
Guadalupe Ridge
A short climb takes the route up to a small peak, then after a brief descent up a little more to a second, and finally down and up to a more elongated third, this just before the end of path at the intersection with the Guadalupe Ridge Trail which stays fairly level for several miles in either direction, running all along the central crest of the mountains.
Slaughter Canyon Topographic Map
Slaughter Canyon Wildflowers
More plants in the canyon
 Button cactus |
 Mexican buckeye |
 Ribbed false pennyroyal |
More plants in the canyon
Slaughter Canyon Trail - Similar Hikes
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