That'll get 'em!

[+BCandMsKitty]

Well, I recently discovered (on a maintenance run) that one of our caches was hidden behind poison ivy vines. (No leaves on the vine when I hid it .. honest)!

So, I disabled the cache until I could get the time to find another nearby spot to hide it. Got the time today, and went out armed with rubber gloves to pull the vines out away from the container so I could get at it.

Found another good spot 77 feet away from the original. Hid the cache and came home feeling that all was well in the world.

As I was washing my hands, the thought hit!

That container will be covered in oil from the vine! It will be a sort of booby trap .... like poison in the wine, or something.

Now I gotta go back there and replace the container too!

 

Why is it that hindsight is always 20/20?

[+StarBrand]

I checked on one of mine after a few years and the PI had grown around one side of it. I just put up a warning on the cache page. Nature happens. It wasn't that close when I placed it.

[+Sol seaker]

Actually if it is a non-porous container you can clean it up.

 

There's a soap that cuts poison oak oils. It's called, Fels Naptha. You can find it in the laundry soap section of most grocery stores. (it is a bar soap normally used for tough stains)

 

Then after you clean your container, you can break off a chunk of the soap to put in your first aid kit to wash up if you come in contact with poison oak. It will wash the oils off of skin.

 

The only thing I've seen it didn't clean was a wet-suit. long story

 

I notice you did not get it (at least not yet, sometimes it takes a few days) from the container nor from retrieving the container. It is really common to not be allergic to it at first, but then through repeated contact to become very allergic to it, so be careful.

Edited August 1, 2012 by Sol seaker

[+BCandMsKitty]

Been there, done that ... I'm very allergic to the stuff. Usually need prednizone to get rid of it. And the container is wrapped in camo tape, so I can clean it up easily. Just wish I'd thought of it before I went out. would have saved me a trip.

 

Sitting here wondering how one gets a wet-suit contaminated ....

Edited August 1, 2012 by BC & MsKitty

[+Chokecherry]

Well, I recently discovered (on a maintenance run) that one of our caches was hidden behind poison ivy vines. (No leaves on the vine when I hid it .. honest)!

So, I disabled the cache until I could get the time to find another nearby spot to hide it. Got the time today, and went out armed with rubber gloves to pull the vines out away from the container so I could get at it.

Found another good spot 77 feet away from the original. Hid the cache and came home feeling that all was well in the world.

As I was washing my hands, the thought hit!

That container will be covered in oil from the vine! It will be a sort of booby trap .... like poison in the wine, or something.

Now I gotta go back there and replace the container too!

 

Why is it that hindsight is always 20/20?

 

You can get a reaction from the vines as well even if there aren't any leaves on them.

[+oxford comma]

 

Then after you clean your container, you can break off a chunk of the soap to put in your first aid kit to wash up if you come in contact with poison oak. It will wash the oils off of skin.

 

The only thing I've seen it didn't clean was a wet-suit. long story

 

I use it on me after caching in the woods - I caught a bad case of poison something building a fort for my daughter , in my mom's backyard- they live in a suburban neighborhood with a handful of trees at the back of their half acre lot.. I still don't know what it was -,I scratched my arm on a branch , and the rest is history. I've brushed up against PI since and nothing happened.

good idea about breaking off a chunk. i will def. do that.

 

so what's the wetsuit story? caching in the woods in a wetsuit? []

[Mr.Yuck]

Well, I recently discovered (on a maintenance run) that one of our caches was hidden behind poison ivy vines. (No leaves on the vine when I hid it .. honest)!

So, I disabled the cache until I could get the time to find another nearby spot to hide it. Got the time today, and went out armed with rubber gloves to pull the vines out away from the container so I could get at it.

Found another good spot 77 feet away from the original. Hid the cache and came home feeling that all was well in the world.

As I was washing my hands, the thought hit!

That container will be covered in oil from the vine! It will be a sort of booby trap .... like poison in the wine, or something.

Now I gotta go back there and replace the container too!

 

Why is it that hindsight is always 20/20?

 

You can get a reaction from the vines as well even if there aren't any leaves on them.

 

I don't know how to put this without sounding like a weisenheimer, but that vine should have been hairy, even in the winter. Look for that next time. I do specifically rememeber in my area a couple people warning the owner of a February or so placement last year that the cache was behind a very hairy vine.

[7rxc]

Been there, done that ... I'm very allergic to the stuff. Usually need prednizone to get rid of it. And the container is wrapped in camo tape, so I can clean it up easily. Just wish I'd thought of it before I went out. would have saved me a trip.

 

Sitting here wondering how one gets a wet-suit contaminated ....

I don't know about that guy, but it isn't / wasn't unusual to spread things out on the 'green' groundcover to dry in my day.

Better than getting sand etc. in it from the beach. We learned to use the grass instead of the bushes and other cover quickly.

 

One other aspect, in my day MOST suits were skin 2sides (rubber and rubber) no nylon bonded on. That cleaned up a lot better than the newer fabric covered stuff which holds just about everything it touches (like velcro does). Never had that problem at all.

 

Doug 7rxc