A strenuous hike with some amazing views at the top. A couple of areas on the Echo Canyon side have railings and steps added, but for the most part you are on your own, with a few very steep sections! My trail running shoes gave me sufficient grip, but there was more use of my hands than I'd expected, and I wish I'd brought gloves. I was very grateful to have free hands thanks to my backpack, though.
It is definitely a popular trail with locals and tourists alike. Parking looks terrible - we took Uber, and in addition to not fighting traffic, we found a benefit of cabbing it there is that it was easy to do both trails - we went up the Echo Canyon side of the mountain then go back down Cholla, vs having to stick to one side of the mountain (or hike allllll the way around to get back to a car). Cholla is dog friendly so we saw a few pups on that side! My dog would not be into this at all, but I saw labradors bounding up the rocks happily.
We saw a rattlesnake on the trail, which apparently is not uncommon. I was terrified but it didn't seem to bother the regulars at all.