[pct-l] Poison oak

[Brian Lewis]

I'd be pretty surprised to see Cuddles "terrified" of anything, but staying
on topic ... I agree with Piper that poison oak isn't as big of an issue as
it can appear from warnings encountered various places.   To put it in
perspective, I expected to see tons of the stuff along the trail in NorCal
and some in other parts of the trail, and this seemed to be confirmed my
very first day out of Campo when someone pointed to some right at Hauser
Creek.   And once in SoCal some few hundred miles later I realized that I
had hung my gravity filter from a thick p.o. branch.  But overall I saw a
lot less than I had expected; even the places where it was around were (at
least last year) decently brushed out and of limited duration (distance).

As Piper mentioned, there's always going to be debate and dissension over
what is and is not poison oak.  At one point in NorCal when I mentioned that
I had expected to see poison oak over the last few days but had seen none,
another thru-hiker responded by just laughing at me (loud and long ...).   I
still don't know who was right, but (a) I never got a rash, and (b) I did
clearly identify it in select areas, such as going north out of Seiad
Valley.

Of course a person that's particularly sensitive should be more careful and
concerned, I do suggest memorizing what it looks like (I had pictures on my
smartphone), I certainly don't advocate ignoring it entirely (!).  In
appropriate places I paid attention to vegetation whenever I left the trail,
and I carried a small amount of repackaged Tecnu, but was never inclined to
use it.

My point is for those preparing to hike long chunks of the PCT: of the
various issues I was concerned about in preparation, poison oak turned out
for me personally to seem much less of an issue than I had anticipated.   I
hope it turns out that way for you too.


Brian Lewis / Gadget
http://postholer.com/brianle