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| - Cholla Trail is the little sibling to Camelback Mountain's main trail via Echo Canyon. It's less arduous, slightly more lengthy, more gradual and has a more reasonable parking situation than that of Echo Canyon. When I say more reasonable parking situation, I mean you might have to walk a little ways from where most people park along North Invergordon Road vs. the parking lot madness going on at the Echo Canyon trail head. I'll gladly take that over the pandemonium on the other side any day of the week. With that said, I actually did manage to find a place to park at Echo Canyon.
With that little intro aside, this is still a good workout, especially towards the summit. I still saw plenty of people getting winded from this hike. Expect narrow trails, lots of rocks, and some minor scrambling up a few rocky sections but for the most part, mellower than that of Echo Canyon. Don't let it fool you though, you'll still get a solid hike in and it can still be dangerous so it is important to watch your step as well as others around you.
Eventually you'll make it to the same summit that the Echo Canyon trail brings you. You'll be treated to all the same beautiful views of the surrounding city once you summit and even some additional ones on the way up. Some people say it isn't scenic but I disagree, it's plenty scenic as far as I'm concerned.
I did this hike in the same fell swoop as Echo Canyon. From the Echo Canyon Trailhead to the bottom of Cholla Trail and back up to the summit then back to the Echo Canyon parking lot puts this at a little over 5.5 miles round trip. If you have the fitness and the time, I recommend that route to really take in the hike in its entirety, especially if you are visiting like I was. It took me roughly 2.5 hours if you don't count the time that I used to take pictures. I wasn't breaking any records but I wasn't slouching either and the weather was nice and overcast which made things a little easier. Folks with a less regular fitness routine will probably take longer...and those with a better fitness routine even shorter.
Depending on weather, bring anywhere from plenty to tons of water. I don't even know how many pounds of water weight I lost but I know it was easily a few. Expect a metric shit-ton of people on weekends which can cause the trails to be pretty packed, incur slowdowns, and cause you to be very aware of your footing in order to avoid accidents and injury. Unfortunately, a lot of areas on the trail are fairly narrow and don't provide for a lot of easy passing, especially if you like running. I nearly folded my ankle trying to traverse some things a little too quickly or from just not paying attention. In fewer words, be careful.
With that said, this is an awesome hike only second to the more arduous Echo Canyon side, I can understand why it is one of the "must do" hikes in Phoenix...which means that you should do it. So do it!
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