THE ROUTE: Slaughter Gulch Trail
TERRAIN: Very steep established trail, loose rocks and dirt, probably extremely slippery when wet.
ELEVATION GAIN: 1435 feet (according to my GPS)
Emily and Mrs. Huffy climbing up the trail. Emily was using her new pack for the first time.
Looking across the valley at the mountains on the other side.
Emily and spectacular fall colors.
Mrs. Huffy trying to check her Facebook account. That's Kenai Lake in the background. We ate lunch at this location. Best meatloaf sandwiches I ever made!
Emily and Mrs. Huffy hiking/crawling back down the trail.
Mrs. Huffy puts her hiking poles to good use.
The view across the valley. Yes, that is Termination Dust on the tops of those distant peaks.
Emily celebrates after the hike by eating an enormous scoop of strawberry ice cream.
I have no idea how Slaughter Gulch got its name. I probably don't want to know. I do know that it is a spectacularly beautiful place, and the trail leading up to the gulch is extremely steep. Still it is a great hike and one we will do again. I've heard that once you reach the gulch you can hike to Resurrection Trail even though the route does not appear on any maps. We didn't have time for that today, but that's my kind of hiking.
We were lucky as the weather was nice and sunny and we spent an hour enjoying the views and eating lunch at the top of the trail where there is a fantastic vista of Kenai Lake and the surrounding mountains. We also watched some Dall sheep through the binoculars and generally enjoyed being outside on such a grand day. In fact, conditions couldn't have been better for...hiking Slaughter Gulch Trail.
1 comment:
I heard that Slaughter Gulch got it's name from the settlers in Cooper Landing when they would hike up and hunt sheep. They would kill so many and dress them out by the creek that the creek would flow red with blood and it would stain the remaining snow along the trail. Who knows if it's true...
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