CHOLLA CACTUS GARDEN is located a short drive to the south from White Tank Campground. The main attraction, of course, is the cholla cactus (Cylindropuntia bigelovii). I have toured the Cholla Garden on two occasions. During my first visit, I was astonished by their strange appearance and color scheme. For the next few months, I imagined that they were some sort of alien life form. I took photographs on both of my visits, and these were mid-day visits. Other photographers have captured superlative photographs of this cholla garden near sunset. My photographs include details of the woody network that forms the skeleton of this plant, a self-portrait of me posing as close as I dared, and a photograph of a birthday party. I set up this birthday party using a cake that was decorated by Vons at 3650 Bristol Street, and using helium balloons from Party City at 3837 South Bristol Street.
OCOTILLO PLANTS. Across the street (Pinto Basin Road) from Cholla Garden are a few ocotillo plants. These ocotillo are very tall and you will never be able to get a good photograph of their brilliantly colored red blossoms. The best places to find plenty of ocotillo, where the ocotillo blossoms are only five or six feet off the ground, is next to the dirt road in Coyote Canyon, just a ten minute drive north of Christmas Circle at Anza Borrego Park. Also, the trail through Glorietta Canyon at Anza Borrego has several ocotillo located next to some barrel cactuses.
WARNING. When walking on the short trail that brings you through the garden and when going off-trail and walking in between the cholla, you will be in occasional danger of being stabbed by thorns from living cholla, and of being stabbed by thorns of pieces of cholla that are lying on the ground. I learned during my first visit that it is good to bring along a pair of pliers for removing thorns that have punctured your blue jeans and that are embedded in your flesh. If you don't have pliers, then you can forget about removing the thorns. Also, if you are wearing running shoes, then you will be in danger of cholla thorns jabbing through the fabric that forms the upper part of the running shoe. Leather boots is the best apparel when visiting cholla garden. Once, while on a photo shoot near Campbell Grade in Anza Borrego State Park, I got stabbed by cholla parts that were lying on the ground. A day later, I got infections in two locations of my right foot, and I needed to go to urgent care at a hospital in San Diego. They performed surgery on my foot to remove two thorns, and they gave me a 2-week supply of antibiotic pills. read more