Slaughterhouse Gulch

Slaughterhouse always presents a new line that I didn’t notice the time before...Thanks to the dirt bikers who spotted me and saved my mirror from destruction

Went up this trail with Matt from On Trail Training (https://www.ontrailtraining.com/) as part of a 4x4 101 course. Highly recommend, and this is trail he uses for instruction. Learned a helluva lot about my rig, trail, and 4x4'ing in general. Most of it was pretty normal going, although a few difficult patches that you need to have some good lines on to transverse. Can always sidestep the hard parts. Dirt bikes were in the vicinity, so be aware of those.

What a blast!! Took a few friends who had never been off roading before and it was the perfect trail for showing off. I took all the hard lines and ended up being saved once by my sliders, but still managed to damage my rear bumper. You can go around the hard lines so this is a perfect trail for a mixed group with varying skills/rigs.

Great trail! It was challenging enough to keep me interested but not so hard that I was stressed about breaking stuff, if you have a wide vehicle I would be concerned about damadge, also be prepared for pinstripes. I drive a xterra on a 2" lift and 265 tires with open diffs and never high centered or got stuck.

I went up to this trail to test out my new rear axle and locker setup. It's close to Denver, full of pretty scenery, and the "hard" lines will give you a chance to test out your equipment. It took about 2 hours for me, but I stopped a few times to let my dogs run around a bit. Have fun!

First off, thanks to the Jeep club for maintaining this trail; it's in great shape and is very clean! My wife and I drove the trail today in lifted '18 Rubicon and had zero problems on all areas. Daryl's review below is absolutely spot on...I agree with everything he said. One addition -- for those who like to stop for scenic lunches, there's a great pull-out to the right at about 5.9 miles that is the best along the entire route. (assuming you start your mileage as soon as you turn off of CR43 onto Saddlestring Road and go RIGHT at the loop, or counterclockwise which is the recommended direction) Next review I'll add some photos if I can figure out how!

I ran this trail with Mile-Hi Jeep Club Patrol 14 on Saturday. The trail is snow free the entire route. The backside of the loop (if you start the loop by taking a right at the fork) is the best part of this trail, especially with a rocky, fun climb. The rest of the trail is mainly a dirt road. If I were rating portions of the trail, most of the trail is worthy of 2 stars, unless you're driving a stock vehicle; and, the rocky climb beginning with the 3 optional hill climbs is 4 stars. This is a great trail for those wanting to stretch their new (or new to them) 4x4 SUV or truck. There are bypasses around anything that will make you too uncomfortable.

Ran this last night, trail is in great shape and drier than I expected.

Awesome trail, my 2.5" lifted 4runner had no issues anywhere and my buddies and I were the only ones up there.

Gate is still closed by the forest service. Hopefully things dry up and the closure can be lifted before 5/31! More info on mud season road closures in the area here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd611536.pdf

This trail always offers some fun obstacles combined with some pretty scenic views. At times, there can be a decent number of ATV and side-by-side runners, which makes for a decent amount of dust, but the trail never fails to impress. Watch your tire placement on a few of the downhill rock obstacles, near the early side of the loop. I smacked my rear bumper on a few spots, but nothing too scary. There are typically bypasses for most of the tough obstacles, but still, it's a fun trail to run. Enjoy!

Dry had a few stock tacoma that completed the trail. Recommend not having running boards when going through the obsticals. A few more obsticals than last year, 2 new areas to fully flex out your suspension.

Pictures don't really do justice to some of the obstacles on this trail. I, for the most part, am a pick the easiest route kind of offroader(my trial rig is my daily driver), but you could put up some decent challenge on a couple of sections of this trail. We drove through in a Stock 2014 JKU Rubicon. One of the mud holes was steep enough that we scraped the rear bumper on the way in. There were a few rocks that we took careful lines over, and once the breakover angle of the longer wheelbase caused a small scrape on the skid plates inbetween the wheels. There was also one section on the way between waypoint 5 and 6 that was very steep and the main trail looked tougher than the bypass, but the bypass, getting back to the main trail was VERY tippy. In other words this is a pretty cool, varied trail, No shelf roads to freak you out, but challenges can be ramped up to test out your line selection and your rigs capability. There are some steep sections, that will be different depending which way you are running the trail, both directions will have some steep ups and downs. We choose to run it the counterclockwise direction which is how the waypoints are setup. Most of the trail is pretty narrow so keep watch for oncoming traffic to make sure you have room to pass. A fun half day Trip from Denver. We left around 9 and were back at 1:30.

Love this trail a few spots were a little interesting but overall a great time.

Trail is open, mud holes are pretty dry. I bought a new rig to build this year and took er out to try before the build actually begins... Made it both directions with stock xj suspension and a set of 28" (235/75/15) BFGs.

Trail is open per the South Platte ranger district. The mud season closure is not a set dates closure. If conditions allow, the road can be opened, like it is now.

Went up there today to test out some things. The forest service has posted a plain white sign that says trail closed April through May even though the gate is open. According to someone I met at the trailhead the Ranger was up the road about a mile handing out tickets. The sign has no official logo and no explanation as to why it's closed.

Very little snow, with an emphasis on little. Mostly Rocky and dry. Where there is frozen precipitation it's less than an inch (other than one decent sized puddle).

Very little snow, with an emphasis on little. Mostly Rocky and dry. Where there is frozen precipitation it's less than an inch (other than one decent sized puddle).

A few of us from CVOT made a veterans day run through slaughter house at around 9 a.m. To our surprise there was zero snow. The trail conditions were very dry loose rock and dirt

Due to the settlement for trail closures/usage for the PIke and San Isabel Forests, it looks like Slaughterhouse has been closed up for three months during the winter. This sign now exists at the trail.

This was a nighttime run on Halloween so we don't have any photos that will really do the trip justice or show anything about the trail. We encountered no snow and only one person got themselves high-centered but easily winched off. Trail is as reported with no significant changes that I can report.

We started the morning with 8 Tacomas, and quickly went down to 6 after helping out a stuck vehicle and getting the first two trucks down the hill towards the loop. No one enjoyed this section. There is a lot of ice on this first section, so keep in 1st gear, 4 low, and stay off the brakes. The climbs between waypoints 2 and 3, as well as 5 and 6 were manageable and did not present a major challenge for any of the rigs, as there wasn't much snow in these spots. There was a mix of snow and mud on the rest of the trail, but no new obstacles since the write-up.