Once a group of friends and I planned a JTNP hike to go well past Butcher's Cave, up into the north reaches of Queen Mountain. One of the guys brought his new girlfriend, who had never done much hiking, and she was a delight to have along, but was a real dawdler, stopping to look at every little thing underfoot, slowing down the progress of the hike so that, in the end, Butcher's cave was as far as we got. Along the way, soon before the cave, we passed over a nice mound that somehow has just the right growing conditions for the rare Fishook Cacti, and, with the help of *Misty* (forgetting her real name) we spotted several Fishhooks, some in bloom. Misty had never spent much time in the Park, and continued to be fascinated by every little detail, somewhat annoying to the jaded rest of us, who would rather get on to a long hike and perhaps make it into places we'd never been before.
Once resting inside the cave, I commented how every type of cacti that grows in this relatively high altitude zone grows within a few yards of the mouth of the cave, adding what I thought was obvious, *except Fishhooks, of course*.
Another fascinating aspect of the Butcher's Cave is that you can squeeze through a narrow slot from the entrance and end up on a nice rock ledge for sitting on and enjoying the view. Soon Misty and the rest of us were there, and what does the *looking at every detail* Misty find, but peeking out from under a rock a tiny Fishhook Cactus! I swear, no one else I've ever taken on a hike would have found that particular cactus!
In spite of our hiking plans being shortened, finding that rare little gem of a cactus totally made the hike for me, and whenever I've returned to Butcher's Cave, I've away made sure to traverse out to that ledge, and see if the little cactus is still thriving. Last I looked, probably early Spring of 2000, it was still doing fine.
Other cacti close to the cave, if my memory serves me right: barrel, cotton top, jumping cholla, pencil cholla, mound, hedge hog, pin cushion, prickly pear, pancake prickly pear, and old man cactus.