[Riverwild]

Once while on a month long paddling trip on the Rio Grande, we climbed up the cliffs to the Asa Jones waterworks. On the way down, I slipped and slid into a bunch of small cacti with billions of hairlike needles.

I literally had spines all up one whole side of my body, imbedded from ankle to shoulder. They resembled hairs so closely, and were so numerous, that pulling each of them by hand was impossible. I tried using duct tape to remove them, but obviously didn't get them all. I was tortured for weeks by cactus spines, they popped my brand new deluxe Thermarest self-inflating sleeping pad (not that I got any sleep since I couldn't lay down comfortably!!) and I eventually ended up shaving them to at least get them to the point where I could lay down. It took months for them to all dissolve or work their way out or whatever they do when they go away.

I STILL don't know what kind of cactus I fell in hate with.
Are there any desert dwellers out there who might know what the name of this cactus is?

(PS...the Thermarest never held air again, despite repeated applications of tire puncture repair stuff being put into it! )

[tkrik]

*tkrik giggling* I am not laughing at your situation, I am laughing because I can totally relate. Those suckers can hurt and are hard to see as well. I have had a similar thing happen on numerous occasions.

I am not good at identifying plants at all. It was probably one of those "fuzzy" cacti. Maybe someone will come along and have better information.

I do know that soaking the area in warm water for a while helps them to "surface" and come out. I've done that before and it works. I know someone who used Prep-H to get the bigger ones out. But in your case you have to buy a lot of Prep-H. LOL

[hollym]

Here I thought you were going to say that the cactus experience had a therapeutic benefit similar to accupuncture!

[tkrik]

Originally Posted by hollym

Here I thought you were going to say that the cactus experience had a therapeutic benefit similar to accupuncture!

LMAO, Holly! You're funny. You all would be moving to cactus country. Or maybe that is what they do in the fancy spas in Sedona, AZ with their cacti and "healing waters" that are said to be there. LOL

[hollym]

Here's a link to a site that lists alot of native Texas cacti with images.

http://earthnotes.tripod.com/cactus.htm

[tkrik]

I keep thinking about this, RW. Were they small round shaped cacti? Barrel cacti have tons of those wee little spines. Cholla cacti "jump" at you and have fine spines. Those are the 2 that keep coming to my mind.

[hollym]

If you google small cactus with hair like needles, every link comes up with the prickly pear. If that was the one, you should have eaten it - apparently, they are delicious.

[Riverwild]

You're all so funny!

I would have loved to soak in warm water! We did hit one hot spring and that helped but there were just sooo many spines! I literally suffered for months.

I had to keep my mouth shut and not whine because the surest way to ruin a good river trip is to have a whiner on it and I was with a bunch of guys who would have tortured me more than the cactus did.

I found a picture of the cactus but there was no name attached to the pic so I am no closer to ID. Maybe someone will recognize it from the picture.

[legzzalot]

oh those are nasty looking little boogers!

[SallyC]

OUCHY!!!