[pct-l] Jumping Cholla!

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

While I had absolutely no problem with cactus spines on my hike, I do  
often get spines of one sort or another stuck in my fingers, usually  
from some kinds of seeds that stick to my pants or shoes when I hike.

Sadly, as I am in my 40s, I can no longer see anything up close. I  
can't even see this email as I am writing it. I consider one of my  
major safety/first-aid items to be a pair of drugstore reading  
glasses in a magnification higher than I need for reading. This lets  
me look closely at things. A hand lens also works if you can get one,  
or even just a small magnifying glass. Good for threading needles,  
too. I brought a large needle with a large eye and still had trouble  
but at least it was large enough I could feel the thread (dental  
floss) through without having to see.

Just something to not forget if your eyes are getting old like mine.
On Apr 1, 2011, at 9:40 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> All of the Opuntia cacti will be like this.  Their spines have  
> microscopic hooks and barbs on them, which are responsible for the  
> difficulty removing them.  I was taking cuttings of Opuntia  
> fragilis near the John Day Painted Hills a few years ago and  
> experienced a handling problem.  I'd grasp a single spine with two  
> fingers, sever the pad from the one below it, and then drop the  
> severed pad into a yogurt cup.  I fumbled one and quickly found  
> three fingers of one hand and two fingers of the other stuck to the  
> same bit of cactus!  I managed to pull my hands apart, but it was  
> briefly disconcerting.
> The worst thing about Opuntia is that they have these very tiny  
> little spines called glochids.  On the plant, they look like little  
> tufts of hair.  Opuntia basilaris, the beavertail cactus (has large  
> purple-pink flowers...you'll see it in SoCal near Warner Springs  
> and other areas), has glochids exclusively.  They have the same  
> hooks and barbs as the larger spines, but their very small size  
> makes them very difficult to handle.  The only real way to remove  
> them is by scraping them with a knife blade like you'd remove a bee  
> stinger.  Failure to remove the glochid will result in annoying  
> little pricks every time you touch it for as long as it takes for  
> your body to break it down like it would a splinter.
>
> -Nate the Trail Zombie