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[pct-l] your gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion



The effect of this stuff seems completely capricious and arbitrary. On a trip 
to Hell's Canyon, 7 of us were forced to wade through 15' groves of the stuff 
that had overgrown the trail. We did not reach camp until hours later. I had 
never been exposed to poison oak and was told it was just a matter of time 
until my eyes swelled shut. The anxiety level was quite high that night, as I 
imagined every tiny itch was the beginning of a journey into hell at the 
bottom of Hell's Canyon. But nothing at all happened even though I never 
washed at all. Two people did have a reaction. One of them wore knee braces. 
She didn't wash them when she got home and several months later wore them 
again and got the rash all over again. I've heard that Indians don't have a 
reaction to the stuff. I am one 64th Indian so maybe an immune gene was 
passed on to me. However, I still don't trust being exposed to the plant from 
hell and avoid it when it is present. Once you recognize the plant, you never 
forget