Poison encounters

[+Unkle Fester]

OK, just disabled 7 caches due to massive amounts of Poison Oak growing at the locations. I hid these during the winter and with no leaves on the branches, thought they were just bushes obscuring the hide location. In hindsight, it explains my mid winter bout of Poison Oak, but thought it was from elsewhere.

 

So my question is, have you had this happen? Or even hidden some in the itch bearing plants with leaves on them without knowing?

 

Heaven forbid you did it on purpose to be Evil... Although, I thought about upping the difficulty to be wicked and nasty (I have a lot of those thoughts)... and I have seen a series called "Poison Oak", but am not sure there was really any around.

 

The fun part will be recovering the containers as a good cacher should... That's going to leave a mark.

 

Caches in question (not that it matters for this post):

Cracka-lacka Cache (GC1KVQM)

Coffee Tree (GC1KVQG)

Hanging out with the big boys (GC1KVQC)

Festers Anti Micro (GC1KK7Z)

Noah's Ark? (GC1KK7R)

The Gazillion Cache (GC1KK7F)

Bee's Nest (GC1KK79)

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

You mean that there are caches without poison ivy, blackberry brambles, killer thorns, and snakes? I'd begun to think that all good cache locations featured those things in abundance. Hmmm. Must be our local hiders.

[+sbell111]

I don't know if it's ever happened to me. Since I'm not allergic to poison oak or ivy, I don't generally notice the plants.

[Clan Riffster]

I've got a fairly painful bout of poison ivy going on right now, thanx to a cache maintenance trip.

On one of my hides, ground zero became no longer usable.

One of the replacement sites I checked out, a root ball, was covered in it.

I didn't notice until I was backing away to evaluate the hide.\

 

Another, more recent hide, is an ammo can, suspended below a partially fallen tree, way back in a sub-tropical swamp.

The tree is at 45 degrees, and is crossing a stream. You need to be in the middle of the stream to get it.

Unless, you shimmy up the tree. The tree is covered with poison ivy, so I don't recommend it.

(Yes, I pointed this out on the cache page)

[+Curioddity]

I don't know if it's ever happened to me. Since I'm not allergic to poison oak or ivy, I don't generally notice the plants.

Me either. Actually, I can't say about poison ivy 'cause it doesn't grow around here, but I can roll in poison oak and not be affected.

 

But I learned the hard way that it's not a good idea. Years ago I retrieved a lens cap for a fellow who had dropped it off of a bridge into thick poison oak growing along the streambed. 'Bout an hour later I gave my mother a hug, and that gave her poison oak rash something horrible. So now I just pretend I'm allergic too and stay out of the stuff.

 

Pete (who'd rather be allergic than an allergen)

Edited June 4, 2009 by Curioddity

[+redjada]

<p>

OK, just disabled 7 caches due to massive amounts of Poison Oak growing at the locations. I hid these during the winter and with no leaves on the branches, thought they were just bushes obscuring the hide location. In hindsight, it explains my mid winter bout of Poison Oak, but thought it was from elsewhere. So my question is, have you had this happen? Or even hidden some in the itch bearing plants with leaves on them without knowing? Heaven forbid you did it on purpose to be Evil... Although, I thought about upping the difficulty to be wicked and nasty (I have a lot of those thoughts)... and I have seen a series called "Poison Oak", but am not sure there was really any around. The fun part will be recovering the containers as a good cacher should... That's going to leave a mark. Caches in question (not that it matters for this post): Cracka-lacka Cache (GC1KVQM) Coffee Tree (GC1KVQG) Hanging out with the big boys (GC1KVQC) Festers Anti Micro (GC1KK7Z) Noah's Ark? (GC1KK7R) The Gazillion Cache (GC1KK7F) Bee's Nest (GC1KK79)

 

Or you could have added the attribute for poisonous plants to the cache page.

Edited June 4, 2009 by redjada

[+Unkle Fester]

<p>

OK, just disabled 7 caches due to massive amounts of Poison Oak growing at the locations. I hid these during the winter and with no leaves on the branches, thought they were just bushes obscuring the hide location. In hindsight, it explains my mid winter bout of Poison Oak, but thought it was from elsewhere. So my question is, have you had this happen? Or even hidden some in the itch bearing plants with leaves on them without knowing? Heaven forbid you did it on purpose to be Evil... Although, I thought about upping the difficulty to be wicked and nasty (I have a lot of those thoughts)... and I have seen a series called "Poison Oak", but am not sure there was really any around. The fun part will be recovering the containers as a good cacher should... That's going to leave a mark. Caches in question (not that it matters for this post): Cracka-lacka Cache (GC1KVQM) Coffee Tree (GC1KVQG) Hanging out with the big boys (GC1KVQC) Festers Anti Micro (GC1KK7Z) Noah's Ark? (GC1KK7R) The Gazillion Cache (GC1KK7F) Bee's Nest (GC1KK79)

 

Or you could have added the attribute for poisonous plants to the cache page.

Just had a conversation this morning along those same lines, maybe up the dificulty too. Good thing they are not archived yet, we'll see.

 

I like hearing about some of these adventures that involve the stuff...

 

It's funny that most people do not understand that Poison Ivy, Oak and Sumac all have the same alergen that causes the rashes and itching; Urushiol Oil.

 

Keep the stories coming

[+mfamilee]

All 3 of us in our family always end up with a bad case at least 2x a year. We try to take precautions... long pants, long sleeves, gloves, etc... But it always manages to sneak up on us somewhere. It's almost something we have come to expect.

 

[+humanloofa]

Since I have no clue what it look like I don't know what to avoid so I am sure I have walked through it at some time, and have never had a bad itch or rash. So either I am immune to it or just lucky as heck.

[+Arrow42]

Since I have no clue what it look like I don't know what to avoid so I am sure I have walked through it at some time, and have never had a bad itch or rash. So either I am immune to it or just lucky as heck.

 

Poison Oak

 

Poson Ivy

 

Edited June 5, 2009 by Arrow42

[+GeoCraig]

I am quite sensitive to poison oak and, while always careful about it, still manage a breakout several times a year--including right now.

 

I once placed an ammo box in a perfect location--several rocks made a perfectly sized spot for the box. I just blocked the opening with a couple of more rocks and had a good hiding spot. The hide was done on New Year's Day. A few months later, I returned to do some cache maintenance. The find was surrounded with beautiful green vines of poison oak. I carefully removed the box and relocated it.

 

I have found caches in areas with lots of dormant PO vines--probably hidden in the winter when most people can't identify it.

 

I need to stop writing. It's making me itch.

 

Happy Caching!

[+flask]

i don't consider it summer until i get some poison ivy.

 

oddly, after my last trip i got a teeny-tiny little patch of it...

 

...on the top of my left foot, which would have been inside both shoe and sock. do not ask me how i got ONE blister there and nowhere else. i know i was wading in the stuff.

[+BBI Dragon]

Just had a conversation this morning along those same lines, maybe up the dificulty too. Good thing they are not archived yet, we'll see.

 

I like hearing about some of these adventures that involve the stuff...

 

It's funny that most people do not understand that Poison Ivy, Oak and Sumac all have the same alergen that causes the rashes and itching; Urushiol Oil.

 

Keep the stories coming

 

Hi Unkle Fester!

 

Epic Adventure of the DNF Kind (edited down for length)

(snip)

Now, before I continue, let me give a friendly warning to all of my fellow cachers; this is NOT a hike for short pants. There is poison oak, blackberries and thorns. I had on shorts.

(snip)

Back at me geomobile my legs were itchy so I used the ice water I'd brought along to rinse them off, just as the first raindrops came down out of the approaching storm. Scratched, poked and welted, I drove home in a downpour as the edge of the thunderstorm rolled in.

 

Once home, I took off my shoes and socks and got into the shower using soap and water to clean off my legs. I had nothing to put on them to relieve the itching and welting so I used a spray I have for the dog's hot spots called Allercaine. Stuff worked great and within 20 minutes all I had was scratched up legs!

 

The next day I was talking with my father and he scared some good sense into me about the risks of poison oak. From now of, I'll avoid hiking through an area with it if I'm not wearing long pants AND be very careful not to touch the pants for fear of getting the toxin on my hands and in my eyes or elsewhere.

 

As it turns out, the cache owner did check on the hide and it's still there. I must have messed up the coordinates because I was off by quite a bit. I'll be returning again in a day or two. Owner says there isn't that much poison oak around the cache.

 

As for disabling the caches I'd say no, just add a big warning to the cache pages and make it clear that there is a serious hazard to getting to these hides.