[pct-l] Re: Poison oak and other nasties

[john@frozenpoodle.com (John Brennan)]

The trail from Burney Falls to Castella/Dunsmuir, the infamous Section O,
had the most poison oak in 2002.  It hung down, leaned over, reached across,
and generally created a maze.  Other parts of N. California had poison oak
too, but not as bad.

Along the trail is a plant that looks a lot like poison oak, but is not.  If
you KNOW what poison oak branch structure looks like, you can tell the
difference, but even to my trained eye, it's tough, especially at 3 MPH.  In
some areas the look-alike and the real thing grow together, further
complicating detection.
I found that poison oak seems to only grow at the lower elevations of the
PCT.  When you drop down, be on the lookout.
I wrote up some advice for dealing with poison oak.  If anyone wants it,
email me off-line.
John/Cupcake