[pct-l] Plants, ticks, food boxes, and trekking poles

["Christine Kudija" <cmkudija@earthlink.net>]

Well!  I've lurked for another week and find that there's several things I
can comment on...sorry about the long post!
(1) Plants: for someone who's never experienced the California desert, one
could infer from previous posts that the "jumping" cholla (Opuntia
bigelovii...if I remember my Cactaceae correctly) is omnipresent in the
desert sections of the PCT.  The opposite is true.  But you'll recognize it
when you see it!

Poison oak - Toxicodendron diversilobum, unless the International Botanical
Congress has changed its name AGAIN...is a problem generally in stream
canyons (there was a particularly lush patch overhanging the trail about 200
yards before Barrel Springs in 1994! when all I wanted was to get through it
& get to water and a flat horizontal surface to lie down!!!)  at lower
elevations (below 6,000' maybe? - it's the Western equivalent of poison ivy,
grows as a shrub, a vine, & in sun or shade.  Best thing to do when you're
in a stream canyon is to look for very bright green lobed leaflets arranged
in clusters of three (find a photo before you start the PCT!) - & avoid
them...   If you get skin contact, wash with soap & cold water ASAP -
rubbing alcohol wipes probably work ok too.  The worst cases of poison oak
I've seen have been on people who have actively been clearing brush & have
had a lengthy exposure to the plant's oils.  The suggestion to wear nylon
zip-off pants is good - but you need to be aware that you should avoid
brushing your pant legs against poison oak too, as some oil will transfer to
the fabric and contact some other spot on your skin - like hands & arms.
Detergent at the laundromat gets it out.

FOXTAILS! Bring on the goats!  Not only do foxtails penetrate just about
anything except cordura (I didn't wear gaiters & should have) the ticks
dangle from 'em & brush off on your hairy legs...   And the foxtails are
going to seed & ready for dispersal at PCT thruhike start time.  I'd try
gaiters.  No one's mentioned DEET for a while, but I'm a strong advocate of
using this - I'd rather risk chemical toxicity than possible tick-borne
disease.  "ultrathon" worked really well - I carried a spray can even though
it broke a Jardine rule...because it sprayed pant legs, socks, shoe tops in
an evenly distributed manner that was effective for me.  I don't want to
bring on a DEET flame war, but I picked up relatively few ticks, whereas
some of my  fellow hikers (husband included) who were reluctanct to use DEET
picked literally dozens from their legs & socks...yecch.

Food boxes: Goforth Joanne wrote: .  "Some of these are going to sit around
for more than 5 months.  Did any items go stale or rancid in your resupply
boxes?.  Are there some things you wouldn't box up again? Did crackers and
cereals keep okay?  What about meat and fish products, even if they are
dried?"  I'm going to second the post on doing too much pre-hike work.  We
packed too many boxes & found that we had too much left over when we were
not able to complete a thru-hike.  I bought a 50-lb sack of rolled oats,
mixed it with other grains & dried fruit to make a meusli, which we bagged
in daily servings.  This was fine (got tired of it though) until sometime in
August.  Our niece who was house-sitting for us & periodically mailing boxes
asked on the phone "do you have a problem with moths in your house?"
wellllll....the bulk rolled oats, naturally had granary moth eggs which
hatched into mealworms which ate lots of our food, pupated, laid more
eggs...you can imagine.  We told her not to send any more boxes.  It was a
mess when I got home....I would have saved myself the trouble if I had
either made lots of granola (cooked the little buggers) OR had simply
purchased granola along the way.  I made "meusli" instead of granola b/c I
was concerned about fats in granola going rancid over the 5-month period.
Then again, a Clif or similar bar makes a fine breakfast - which is what we
ended up doing to save ourselves some time in the a.m.  Bottom line: Be
careful with grains purchased in bulk... I think I'd cop out with Quaker
instant oatmeal in several flavors before making a huge batch of meusli
again.

Fruits & fruit leathers will keep at least a year in a cool place, but I
found that my digestive system didn't agree with them.  I spent too much
time making peach leather.  Spaghetti sauce leather works GREAT.  I took a
little Nalgene vial of tabasco to give sauces oomph, and little packages of
various dried herbs.  The tabasco was worth it - the herbs probably weren't.
Quick & easy is good.  Long cooking times are bad.   Incidentally, I'm
asthmatic & p-butter tends to trigger it - so I had to avoid this great
source of trail fat!  (did manage to down a bunch of Snickers bars, though!)

Trekking poles: Love 'em.  I've used old ski poles for years & in 97 finally
broke down & bought Leki poles.  The spring action & ability to change the
length is terrific - I concur with the previously posted testimonials!  I
don't use them on short training hikes but always with a backpack.  In '82
my spouse & I got lotsa flak about ski poles (y'know, where's the snow, etc,
etc.) but we didn't know we here helping to set a trend! (at least in the
U.S....)

OK, enough for now - I'm supposed to be studying & I'm just envious...
What's this news about a  well at Kelso?????

Christine


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