[pct-l] Poison Oak/Ivy & Poodle-Dog Bush on the PCT

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

It does indeed look different and these pictures don't even show all  
the different ways it looks: http://www.santabarbarahikes.com/gorp/ 
poisonoak/

When I was hiking Section O in Nor Cal I was hiking with this guy who  
was paranoid about poison oak and freaking out over every bush on the  
side of the trail. 99% of it was squaw bush which looks a lot like  
poison oak. He dared me to rub it on my face because he didn't  
believe me. I did. Squaw bush.

Poison oak likes lower elevations, below around 4000. You spend most  
of the time above that in So Cal and where you are below that you are  
in such an arid climate there's just hardly any poison oak at all.  
It's hardly worth worrying about and it certainly won't end your hike  
anyway.

Also, there are barely any bugs at all in So Cal, at least in the  
season you'll be hiking in. All you folks who have never hiked in So  
Cal are going to find out why so many people live here.

Diane
On Mar 13, 2013, at 10:34 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Lindsey Sommer <lgsommer at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Poison Oak/Ivy & Poodle-Dog Bush on the PCT

> (This might be a myth that I've allowed myself to believe since  
> childhood,
> but doesn't PO look slightly different depending on what type/ 
> region? This
> might be entirely untrue and if so I should probably look that up!).