Parking
Start at the Slaughter Canyon parking area; the trail climbs from there to the cave entrance.
Overview
About Slaughter Canyon Cave Trail
Why go
- Canyon views and a close look at the cave entrance on a short route.
Heads up
- Steep, rugged climbing packed into half a mile one way.
- The cave interior requires a ranger-guided tour.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Carlsbad Caverns map
Full mapElevation4,236–4,747 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Carlsbad Caverns alert
- ClosureFlood-damaged road and trails remain closedWalnut Canyon Desert Drive and three backcountry trail sections remain closed because of extensive damage from the historic August 2022 flood.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Carlsbad Caverns Tour Guide
Your drive to Slaughter Canyon Cave Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Carlsbad Caverns National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Slaughter Canyon Cave Approach0:00 / 0:36
“You're nearing the Slaughter Canyon trailhead, where a steep half-mile climb leads to Slaughter Canyon Cave.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Carlsbad Caverns Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Yucca Canyon Access Road
- The Pictures That Brought Visitors
- Mud Nests at the Cave Mouth
- Water from a Seed
- 26 audio storiesacross Carlsbad Caverns’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Mexican Free-tailed Bat, Aoudad, Mule Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 12 trails, 12 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Slaughter Canyon Cave Trail
The short climb to the caveSlaughter Canyon Cave Trail is a rugged out-and-back from the Slaughter Canyon parking area to…
Slaughter Canyon Cave Trail is a rugged out-and-back from the Slaughter Canyon parking area to the cave entrance. The complete walk is about 1 mile round trip, with 500 feet of climbing in the half-mile ascent. The uphill leg generally takes about 45 minutes; allow roughly 1.5 hours for the return walk and a stop at the entrance. Reaching the entrance does not open the cavern to self-guided visitors: the interior is seen only on a ranger-guided tour.
A steep, rough routeThe route climbs steadily on an unpaved, rugged path.
The route climbs steadily on an unpaved, rugged path. The distance is short, but 500 feet of gain in half a mile makes it a difficult hike; the return follows the same rough ground downhill. Take your time on the descent and turn around if the footing or grade is beyond your comfort. This is the cave approach, not the much longer Slaughter Canyon hiking route.
Canyon walls and an ancient reefSlaughter Canyon opens views across pale, broken rock and the dry canyon basin.
Slaughter Canyon opens views across pale, broken rock and the dry canyon basin. The walls expose part of the Capitan Reef, a fossil reef formed about 265 million years ago, largely by sponges and algae. Uplift and erosion later stripped away younger layers and exposed the reef in the Guadalupe Mountains. Pause where the view opens and keep both the canyon wall and basin in frame to show their scale.
Start at Slaughter CanyonBegin at the Slaughter Canyon parking area and follow the trail uphill to the cave entrance,…
Begin at the Slaughter Canyon parking area and follow the trail uphill to the cave entrance, then return the same way. Pets are not allowed on the park's unpaved surface trails.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Carlsbad Caverns
48 sightingsMexican Free-tailed BatMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
175 sightingsAoudadMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
38 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
86 sightingsWild TurkeyMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
33 sightingsCollared PeccaryMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
52 sightingsLargemouth BassMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Carlsbad Caverns. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
