Originally Posted by
Ross520
Arizona native, my friend, been there, done that.
You do realize that the entire point of Cholla cacti "jumping" on the you is to use you for seed transportation without you knowing it, right? That would be difficult to do if the "transporter" noticed right-away. They're not meant to be painful. It's discomfort, that's it.
A Colorado native here. We aren’t unfamiliar with cholla here. I’ve also had experience with them in Arizona.
The cactus may attach to animals to get transported but the whole point is to drop off at some time in the future so as to not have to take up residence on the animal that’s is doing the transportation. They become painful enough that the animal doing the transportation will try to get rid of them as soon as possible. Being transported miles and miles away from the parent plant isn’t necessarily conducive to finding the proper growing conditions.
And it’s not the seed pods that are jumping. Seed pods are usually enticement for an animal to eat the fruit and spread the seeds through poop.
Originally Posted by
Ross520
And regarding Saguaro cacti, there is no cactus more painful to run into... Period. I've been COVERED in cholla before, and it wasn't nearly as painful as the time I accidentally backed into one of the Saguaros in my front yard when I was puull weeds. Chollas are more annoying than anything.
The spines on saguaros are large but, for the most part, can be avoided. If you run over a shedded spine from a saguaro and it gets kicked up onto the rider, it’s not likely to even be noticed. I’ve had cholla spines kicked up onto me while riding and it’s like grabbing a handful of fishhooks. I never noticed it as being “painless”. Just the opposite. Hurts like hell.
I’d much rather encounter this kind of spine at speed
Untitled by
Stuart Black, on Flickr
then this one
image by
Stuart Black, on Flickr