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| Sunset is an excellent time to visit the Cholla Cactus Garden as the cholla's stems and needles seem to glow in the light. |
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| Cholla Cactus Garden Trail aerial map. Click for larger version. |
The 0.25-mile Cholla Cactus Garden Trail loops through the otherworldly – and dangerous – sight. An excellent time to visit the garden is about an hour before sunset when the cacti seem to glow in the changing light. March through April also is a great time during the day, as the teddybear cholla are in bloom with their showy yellow- to white-colored flowers.
To reach the trailhead, from the park’s Oasis Visitor Center on Utah Trail just south of Calif. Hwy. 62, take the former south. Once in the park, Utah Trail becomes Park Boulevard. Turn left/southeast onto Pinto Basin Road. About 12 miles from Park Boulevard, look for a parking lot on the road's south side. Park there.
The flat, hard-packed dirt trail leaves from the lot's southwest corner. Spreading for 10 acres around you is a desert landscape dominated by teddybear cholla.
Cholla paradise
It's a particularly unique site because creosote bush and burrobush thrive on the basin's expanse of alluvial fans. Few teddybear cholla can be found there.
This particular spot at the edge of the Sonoran Desert, however, is ideal for teddybear cholla. About 4 inches of water seasonally flows out of Wilson Canyon over a loose mixture of broken rock and soil, which nicely holds the moisture. This spot in the Pinto Basin is for teddybear cholla what the Mediterranean is to humans.
The teddybear cholla, with its distinctive trunk, can grow up to 5 feet tall. A detachable sheath covers its sharp 1-inch needles.
Surprisingly, most of the cholla's seeds are infertile. Instead, it reproduces when stem joints fall off.
Be careful!
The stem joints easily detach from the parent plant. Thanks to tiny barbs on its spines, they quickly latch on to anything brushing against them – including you. And as luck would have it, these barbs cause great pain when removed.
Because of this, do not wear open-toed sandals and stay on the trail...or stem joints will come home with you. Some cholla does reach out onto the trail, so keep an eye out for them and supervise children.
Sixteen markers also can be found along the trail. Pick up the brochure at the trailhead for the info on desert fauna that goes with each marker.
The trail is entirely open to the sun, so be sure to don sunscreen, sunglasses, and sunhat. Always carry extra water, even though this is a short trail.
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