[2] The watering hole can be reached by a popular 1.64 mi (2.64 km) one-hour (round trip) hiking trail starting at Tamarisk Grove Campground.

[3] The trail was described in the New York Times as a "flat, gentle hike—the kind that wraps around small, sloping hills, abuts a shallow canyon, and rewards its guests with an otherworldly view of the desert at the finale.

"[14] A 1963 history described the still-visible ancient indigenous presence in the region:[15] Today, when traveling toward the east on California Highway 78, and after passing Tamarisk Campground, and looking toward the south, there are some low hills apart from the main desert range where there is sign of there having been some sizable Indian villages.

[18] In 1872 a former Butterfield stagecoach driver named John McCain and his brothers built a road from Scissors Crossing or Sentenac Cienega over the hill and down Plum Canyon to the spring.

[3] The historic Paul Sentenac cabin was located near Yaqui Well, close to the present-day site of Tamarisk campground.

[15] Circa 1918, the spring was recorded to have "poor but drinkable water," and the USGS posted a sign marking the well for travelers along the road.

[17] California folklore holds that the ghosts of long-dead prospectors, or travelers lost for eternity on the Southern Emigrant Trail, appear at the Well at night when the moon is full.