[pct-l] Poison Oak

[CharlieJones@aol.com (CharlieJones@aol.com)]

In a message dated 3/7/02 4:44:06 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
charliethorpe@att.net writes:

<<  We came down a nice hillside through a fish hatchery in the little valley
below and decided that it was lunchtime (seems like it was almost always
lunchtime <g>).   I don't remember exactly where this hatchery was (north
California?), ...


About two tortillas into our meal, a group of middle-school looking kids
came by and wanted to know why we were eating our lunch in a patch of poison
oak.  We informed them that thru-hikers had to eat ... and, besides, we 
weren't in
poison oak at all...poison oak looks like that green stuff over there.


I gotta admit that we weren't too concerned (bigger crowds provided bigger
yogi opportunities!) until it became obvious that virtually everybody but us
was confused about what poison oak looked like.  ...

We never did get any kind of rash.

BTW, Brick, those pictures you sent out look just like the veggie those
well-meaning folks at the hatchery were confused about.  You might want to
ask some hikers in south California what poison  oak really looks like...  >>

First of all, the hatchery was most likely the Crystal Lake State Fish 
Hatchery located just a few miles south of Burney Falls Memorial State Park.

If you never got a rash, you were most likely sitting in Rhus trilobata 
(Basket Bush or Skunk Bush ... formerly called "Squaw Bush," but now 
considered politically incorrect to do so).

There is a subtle difference in the appearance of Poison Oak and Skunk/Basket 
Bush. For most of the general populace, the rule is ... if it looks even a 
little like poison oak, treat it as if it IS poison Oak (Avoid contact). 

The picture that Brick sent WAS of Poison Oak. I told you that Skunk/Basket 
Bush looked similar. See, you've already got them mixed. 

Charlie




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