[pct-l] poison oak

[Bill Batchelor]

The general rule seems to be to wash off as quickly as possible.  Sometimes
though you wont know you hit it.  Then once it starts to itch - wash it off.
Any mild soap will do, even a bit of tooth paste and water will do.  As for
the itching after the fact, my impression has been (and I have had it bad a
couple times) that the powders, creams, etc just give you something to do
while it works itself out.

Most people report seeing very little along the trail.  While I have only
hiked the Southern Calif section, the only place I ran into it -and there
was a boat load - was on the final couple miles approaching Barrel Springs.
Funny, most of the Poison Oak was tagged with a pink ribbon.  When you get
to Barrel there is a sign for south bound hikers noting that the pink ribbon
indicates poison oak.  For the bulk of people hiking north though, no such
indicator.

PGumby 

-----Original Message-----
From: Len Glassner [mailto:len5742 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 6:21 PM
To: pct-l
Subject: [pct-l] poison oak

I've not had a run-in with poison oak, but I expect I may have an upcoming
opportunity.  I see there are various products that remove the oil (some
very expensive, some not), and others that address only the itching.  Any
recommendations as to what to carry?  Try to remove the oil or just treat
the itching?