Hiking Tips # 2 -- Avoiding Toxic Relationships (with plants).

Poisonous plants are as common as they are irritating. The allergic reaction to Poison Ivy, Oak or Sumac can make a hiking trip memorable for the wrong reasons.

Plants of Poison
There are three major types of poisonous plants in North America, Poison Ivy, Oak and Sumac. All of them generate the same oil, called urushiol. About 70-85% of the population is allergic to it. All parts of each plant are poisonous- leaves, vines, berries, roots. The plants can't be trusted even when they're dead or dormant - a dead vine will still has the urushiol in it. Burning the plant is a bad idea- VERY bad. The smoke itself carries the urushiol molecules, and if inhaled, can cause the allergic reaction on the inside of a human's trachea and lungs. This can be fatal.

Once a person or animal has come into contact with these cursed weeds, the unfortunate has a mere 20 minutes or so to thoroughly wash and scrub down the affected body parts. After the 20 minutes, the oil has affixed itself to the skin, dried, and cannot be washed off (urushiol is non-water soluble).

For those of us who are allergic, the discomfort starts in but a few hours. First there's the itchy redness. Then the bumps. Then the blisters. The blisters will eventually break. It is of mild comfort that the fluid in the blisters does not actually spread the toxin. It sometimes seems that this is the case, when one part of the body has an immediate reaction, and an adjacent part has a delayed reaction. That's just because the first part to become symptomatic received a larger dose of the poison.

Clearly exposure to toxic plants is unpleasant. Happily, a savvy hiker can avoid said unpleasantness by knowing his or her way around the toxic plants. In these cases, an ounce of prevention is worth several pounds of cure -- and calamine lotion.


Know Thine Enemy
Americans have to worry about 3 different types of these wicked weeds - Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and Poison Sumac.

Poison Ivy

The most common of the three, Poison Ivy is found in every state of the union west of the Rocky Mountains, except for North Dakota (lucky North Dakotians). It's appearance can vary, but the constant rule is that the leaves grow in clusters of three. Sometimes the leaves are all the same size, sometimes the middle one is larger, but there will always be three. Poison Ivy vines are have "hairs" on them. These traits have given rise to more then a few rhymes and mnemonics on identifying the evil plant. Among the most useful are "Leaves of Three - Let Them Be!" and "Hairy Vine, No Friend of Mine!"

Poison Oak

Common along the American south, Poison Oak comes in both Atlantic and Pacific flavors, neither enjoyable. The leaves are slightly different then the Poison Ivy - they look like Oak leaves, hence the name. Other then that the differences between Poison Oak and Ivy are slight. They both grow leaves in clusters of three, both have fuzzy vines, and are both to be avoided at all costs.

Poison Sumac



It's actually a tree. It's also by far the most toxic of the three, according to some botanists. It's leaves have no easily recognisable numerical pattern, growing in clusters of anywhere from 7-13 leaflets. This bad news is offset by good news - this hateful plant is only found in swamps and bogs. Why are you even hiking there in the first place?

Like groundhog holes, and broken bootlaces, poisonous plants are some of the irritating challenges any hiker has to get used too. Consider putting up with their existence as the fee we pay for an adventurous hike. Knowing just a bit about these pesky plants is more then enough to steer the hiker away from them and onto the more enjoyable things of the trip.