.25 Miles Roundtrip

Short, Level Hike Through Beautiful But Dangerous Cholla Cactus

I’ll be honest, there’s really not much to do on the southeastern Colorado Desert end of the park except for the short and sweet Cholla Cactus Garden Nature Trail (.25 mile roundtrip). You get to see plenty of the spiky jumping cactus with rugged parched mountains as the backdrop. I do like the Pinto Basin Road though. Although, it feels like you’re going straight up once you enter the Park until you hit Park Boulevard. The drive is worth it at least once for the views and for this neat little thorny area. And to notice the difference between the cooler and higher Mojave and the lower hotter Colorado Deserts... although, I reckon they both are still technically Mojave Deserts.