Dragging Families Caching

[+Brawny Bear]

It was Thanksgiving so I thought I would introduce a family we shared turkey with to the wonderful world of Geocaching. So I located some relatively easy caches in their own hometown and we set out for the adventure.

 

3 Boys, Dad a young daughter and a teenage daughter along with myself. We found the first one, it was relatively easy and mostly all paved trails. We found the second one which was a little harder. By now, the family is hooked! They love it to no end.. We do about 4 more locations and then call it a day. All they can talk about is geocaching and all the wonderful little trinkets they have collected...

 

My family drives back to our own town and we continue the fun while on the road back we stop and discover a few more.

 

The other family wants to purchase a GPS and start caching as a family activity.

 

I get a call last night from the mother. All her kids have major outbreaks of poison ivy with 2 of them on medication. They were "Swollen like rasberries" is how she put it. She also indicated that they have had their first geocache and last geocache.

 

I guess calling them up and trying to sell them a GPS would not be a good idea.. None of my girls or my son and myself even has the slightest symptoms of poison ivy..

 

I just thought this was halarious!

 

GW

 

Griffweb

[+Penny & Chaos]

Those of us lucky enough to not be allergic to poison ivy have a hard time remembering to watch out for it.

My husband, son & I don't get it. But my poor daughter breaks out if she gets anywhere near it! It got her out of alot of yard work when we were clearing land for the new yard.

 

[+Stunod]

I never had a poison ivy rash until after I turned 30. Never once as a kid, even though the forest by my house was FULL of it. My friends used to get outbreaks, but I was never affected. I guess you can aquire the allergic reaction over time.

 

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand."

[+Criminal]

Anybody else find it disturbing that the kids were banned from an outdoor activity because of this? Maybe some "safe" computer games are better? Wouldn't it be easier and better for the kids to learn to identify poison ivy, oak, and sumac?

 

If this was all tongue-in-cheek then I apologize. I used to get poison ivy all the time as a kid; I think I came out OK....

[Maine Mountainman]

Poison ivy sucks! I used to get it dadgum near every time I saw it. Everyone in my family gets it at least once a year. But we all love to go Geocaching. I'm betting poison ivy isn't the only reason that the mom is banning outside activity. Remember, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It also teaches you what poison ivy looks like.

Maine MountainMan

[+briansnat]

I pretty much had a splotch or two of PI almost all summer long. A lot of the caches here are around the stuff. I'd rush home to wash, but I guess I'd miss a spot or two, so when one rash would go away another splotch would pop up. The stuff ain't gonna kill ya.

 

I agree with Criminal. It's a shame that the parents won't let them participate in the sport anymore because they got poison ivy. If they chased a ball into a patch of poison ivy and got a case, would they no longer be allowed to play ball?

 

"You can't make a man by standing a sheep on its hind legs, but by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" -Max Beerbohm

[+The Leprechauns]

I agree with Criminal. When I first read this thread, my first thought was not "ha ha, that's funny" but sadness over the kids being banned from further geocaching, after they had enjoyed their first day so much.

 

I cache whenever I can with my 8-year old daughter. She is the reason I found this website; she wanted to go treasure hunting and I had to find something. I've been able to teach her so much about the outdoors while we are having fun.

 

By our third month of caching, Little Leprechaun could identify poison ivy from farther away than I could. She actually bailed out on one cache and went back to the car while I found the container in an ivy patch. "You can look for it, daddy, but I'm not crazy, I'll see you later." That kind of self-reliant judgment, and outdoors sense, is a priceless skill for her to learn at age 8. It will serve her well in other contexts later in life.

 

Neither of us have ever had poison-anything. But if we did, it would just be a lesson to learn, not a reason to stop caching. Appeal back to that nervous mother. To follow her logic, those kids cannot hike in the woods, go camping, try orienteering, drag a canoe down to a river bank, go fishing, or even play baseball or other games in a large field. (Poison ivy grows best in the border areas between open fields and woods.) Don't blame it on geocaching.

 

EDIT: Brian Snat and I were posting at the same time. Notice how his second paragraph says the same thing as my entire message, but in three sentences? That's what going to law school will do to an otherwise normal mind.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Next time, instead of getting married, I think I'll just find a woman I don't like and buy her a house.

[+Brawny Bear]

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Leprechauns:

I agree with Criminal. When I first read this thread, my first thought was not "ha ha, that's funny" but sadness over the kids being banned from further geocaching, after they had enjoyed their first day so much.

---

 

__________

 

Well, maybe we took this a little too far... These kids are very active outdoors and in sports.. The oldest boy is a life scout and before they even went they knew they were allergic to PI.

 

They all bike and hike quite often usually avoiding thick brush and the oldest knows wht to look for. However, I don't think they knew what it looked like in the winter or they were just having too much fun to really care.

 

I don't want this to go on as the mother who "banned" them from outdoor activity. It was not meant to come across that way. If you knew her, you would know that she has a great sense of humor and yes, it was a tongue-in-cheek remark.

 

I shared the story because of their enthusiasm for the sport and their desire to look everywhere even though they knew about the poison ivy. This is not the kind of family that will stay indoors just because it is drizzling outside.

 

There was a lesson here and I think it was learned. They now know the fun of geocaching but will have to take the proper precautions to make sure they stay away from PI, PS, PO..

 

I would be willing to bet their oldest son will buy a GPS and start caching by the end of this month..

 

So lets make this a happy ending..

 

Griffweb

[Lyra]

I can roll in a field of poison ivy and not suffer even the first little itch. All my wife has to do is roll down the window as we pass a wooded area and it's time to buy stock in the Calamine companies.

 

We went on a cache hunt together, along with our then-thirteen-month-old daughter, that involved 1.6 mile hike along a wide fire trail. I thought my wife would be safe, given the wide berth allowed for actual physical contact with any greenery (I was the one diving into the foliage for the cache once we reached the destination). Me? Not a splotch. Wife? Covered! Baby? None. Guess she got my anti-PI genes!

 

Always wear proper caching safety equipment!

[+Chazman007]

Yep as a kid I always had PI, so bad one time I had to be carried to the Bathroom to take care of business. Since I have moved to Florida, I would develop a rash and not understand where it came from, until my doctor said that the Brazilian pepper tree is a type of sumac. Florida is littered with these trees, as a matter a fact it is against the law to plant them here. But of course we have people that think pepper trees are a great place to hide a cache. Can you say long sleeves..

[+Chazman007]

How about a remedy? Any suggestions out there?

 

If I get it bad I usually blot it with bleach to dry it up. Just thinking it can't be too healthy.

[+wcgreen]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Criminal:

Anybody else find it disturbing that the kids were banned from an outdoor activity because of this? Maybe some "safe" computer games are better? Wouldn't it be easier and better for the kids to learn to identify poison ivy, oak, and sumac?....

---

 

It is disturbing and sad. The mother, who did not go caching, sounds to me like someone who stayed indoors a lot as a kid herself--it's a pity that she never developed a like for the all-outdoors.

 

--

wcgreen

Wendy Chatley Green

[+Planet]

let's see.... "could I please have a couple of those plastic bubbles, yes those, what size? Large, please, I have to put all my children in there, for the rest of their natural born lives you know, there's poison IVY out there!"

 

Wait until the itch goes away and those kids will want to go again. Recommend she go to the pharmacy and ask the pharmacist for a packet of aluminum chlorhydrate, it's a powder, for about $1.00, and add it to water, make a compress an hold it on the affected areas, it will dry it up.

 

Aloe is also good to take away itch, and soothe the rash. Squeeze it right out of the plant, or you can buy it bottled.

 

Sad, very sad. Depriving the kids of the greatest sport on earth.

 

Cache you later,

Planet

 

Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right, But Three Lefts Do.

[+Criminal]

quote:

---

Originally posted by griffweb:

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Leprechauns:

I agree with Criminal. When I first read this thread, my first thought was not "ha ha, that's funny" but sadness over the kids being banned from further geocaching, after they had enjoyed their first day so much.

---

 

__________

 

Well, maybe we took this a little too far... These kids are very active outdoors and in sports.. The oldest boy is a life scout and before they even went they knew they were allergic to PI.

 

They all bike and hike quite often usually avoiding thick brush and the oldest knows wht to look for. However, I don't think they knew what it looked like in the winter or they were just having too much fun to really care.

 

I don't want this to go on as the mother who "banned" them from outdoor activity. It was not meant to come across that way. If you knew her, you would know that she has a great sense of humor and yes, it was a tongue-in-cheek remark.

 

I shared the story because of their enthusiasm for the sport and their desire to look everywhere even though they knew about the poison ivy. This is not the kind of family that will stay indoors just because it is drizzling outside.

 

There was a lesson here and I think it was learned. They now know the fun of geocaching but will have to take the proper precautions to make sure they stay away from PI, PS, PO..

 

I would be willing to bet their oldest son will buy a GPS and start caching by the end of this month..

 

So lets make this a happy ending..

 

Griffweb

---

 

OK, good. I figured it was in jest. There are far too many people though that find the forest frightening. That's really sad.

[+Mopar]

Everyone is "immune" to poison ivy when they are born. The the itching and rash is actually caused by our immune system's reaction to the poison ivy, not the plant itself. Actually, poison ivy is harmelss, if it wasnt for this over-reaction we have to it. When we are born, we have no immunities against PI. Like many other viruses/germs/etc, we develop our immunity over time, as we are exposed to it. Unfortunately, the more our body trys to make us immune from the harmless PI plant, the worse the reaction we have is. Even people who have never suffered the effects of PI may eventually do so with repeated exposure. That's what happened to me (and what caused me to research WHY after 35yrs of being able to roll naked in the stuff, I now get it worse then many people). I worked in a outdoor related job, and since I was "immune" to PI, I was part of a crew that cleared an area of some of the most massive PI I've ever seen. I was cutting PI TREES with trunks almost a foot wide down with a chainsaw! Talk about being exposed! After that day I got a mild case of it, the very first time I had EVER had a PI rash. Well friends, that was the beginning of the end. After that initial tiny rash, I now get fullblown PI at least a few times a year, and like Brian, I seem to almost always have a small spot somewhere all summer.

 

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

[+travois]

I'm not affecteted by poison ivy, but I don't think its presence would stop me as I have happilly cut myself up good looking for cashes in thorn bushes. Such is life for the insane .

[+Last Lap Gang]

Itoo, have to be careful about PI. I never get it that severe, but it seems that I always get it in the most aweful places, like the back of my thighs. I grew up in PA, and now live in MD, where it is prolific.

 

Aside from doing what I can to prevent it, I think the best remedy that was recommended to me for relief (not cure) was a hair dryer. In the middle of the night, if I'm fighting the urge to itch, I head for the bathroom, and blow the hair dryer on it. I wave the HD back and forth, but really let it get to the point where I can barely stand it. Apparently this releases natural body endorphins and antihistamines and the itch is releived for at least a few hours.

[+LarsThorwald]

Next time try the curling iron!

 

Charlie

"One should never begin a journey by heading in the wrong direction."

[+Darkmoon]

As a fellow Mt biker, we would ride trails and i would never get poison ivy but a few would...that changed and now if i am not careful, i am covered in a rash from my head to my feet.!

I have found out that it is the oil on the leafs and the stem that causes it and care should be made to wipe down afterwards. A doctor told me to use cold water right after going thru patches and wipe the skin down.

After riding, i would use what water i had left in my camelback and hose my legs down, washing really good as that is where it always started. I would use ice and rub my whole legs down and then wipe down. I would also change clothes and put them in a bag till i could wash them, just in case i had the oil on them.

Guess what...it works for me...now instead of being covered in the rash i might have 1 or 2 spots the size of a quarter, which i can live with. I have been hospitalized with severe poison ivy before and ity was not fun!!!

I use a mixture of cornstarch and just a little water to help dry them out and if it is the oozing kind, just cornstarch to absorb the liquid.

I think anyone who spends time in the outdoors should learn to reconize and be able to tell what is poison ivy and oak and such and to avoid it the best way possible. Leaves of three leave it be !

 

Darkmoon

 

I have a paintball field that i play at and help run and some of the woods are thick with the stuff, i never have aproblem because i advoid it and wash down afterwards.

 

No, I am not lost...i am where I am suppose to be...I think?

[+Web-ling]

As a kid, I never got PI. I get it all the time now. I've been in the ER several times because of it.

 

The best prevention (besides knowing what it looks like and staying out of it) that I've found is a product called Ivy Block. Just apply it like insect repellant before going out in the woods.

 

The best "after exposure" product I've found is TECNU cleanser.

 

I cache with kids a lot. My daughter has had one mild case. She apparently got some on her hands, then sucked her thumb...

 

[GPSCache]

I believe that Poison Oak is a lot like Poison Ivy.

The greatest feeling perhaps in all the world with a Poison Oak rash is putting it under running warm-hot water..

I recently combated some last month. It was minor, although after numerious bouts, I've come up with a great technique for handling it.

First off, the oozing is great-it saturates bandages or clothes or anything you put over it.. normally.. Last time I got it-last month, I covered the oozing rash areas with paper towels wadded up, then covered the paper towel entirely with DUCT TAPE! The duct tape held great-even under water. It was also didn't allow oozing-thus spreading.. also I could actually scratch the tape with it got itchy enough and it would hurt the wound as much as being bare.

But the best thing I've ever done happened last time-not just the DUCT TAPE and that was HONEY!!

I covered the wound in honey. Read on the web about the antibacterial effects of honey. The honey kept it moist, and it healed in a few days. IT WAS AMAZING HOW WELL HONEY WORKED!!!

 

1) I put the honey on the wound (rash).

2) I put several layers of paper towel over it.

3) I put duct tape over the paper towel and on the skin around the towel to hold it still

[GPSCache]

The above post was a bit unclear..

Itching the tape IS better since the wound WASN'T hurt as bad with the tape.

[+MarcB]

I come from the UK and have never heard of posion oak or poision ivy and the sheer pain it can do! Worse thing we have over here is stinging nettles and hayfever

I assume it makes your skin red raw...

MarcB

 

"We searched for hours in the cache area but all we could find was an ammo box in a little hollow. Suggest you archive the cache..."

[Mizzoumuleskinner]

I didn't have an outbreak of poison ivy until I was twenty. I was on my mountain bike at Finger Lakes State Park outside of Columbia, MO and crashed into a gigantic cluster of it. Since then, I've had it a couple of times, but I'm more careful now.

 

I use Ivy Block when I know ahead of time that I'm going to be around wooded areas, and if I've been exposed to it, I wash off with a WONDERFUL product called Tecnu when I get home. To everyone who has a problem with PI outbreaks, Tecnu may very well become your best friend. It's a little expensive, but definitely worth it. You can usually find it at your local drugstore. If not, any sort of liquid dish soap does an acceptable job of removing the oil from your skin, although I've had a reaction even after washing off with dish soap.

[+Renegade Knight]

I didn't know we even had Poison Ivy in Idaho until someone pointed out that we do. Most of the time it's stingining nettle that gets me. That stuff I recognize. Poison Ivy, I'd have to wade through and get a rash. Then I'd know.

 

If I banned my kids from activities that could get them hurt/stung/cut/scraped/ or a rash, I might as well duct tape them to the wall until they turn 18. Of course then they would be pretty much worthless to society. But hey that's the moms choise.

 

Wherever you go there you are.

[+ErSamin]

Back in 19??, when I was in the Girl Scouts, we had one of those "Nature Guys" at a scout campout. You know the type...showed you what bugs were edible, what plants to avoid, etc. I recall he had a plastic bag with him. It was filled with water and some type fo native plant (this was in Southern California). He said that this was a natural cure for poison oak.

 

Does anyone know of this, or heard of something similar?

 

"Could be worse...could be raining"

[+infosponge]

I have a variation on this one: hot water.

 

If I have a PI rash or even Fire Ant bites, putting hot water from the tap/shower as hot & as long as you can stand it will relieve the itching. Be careful not to burn yourself, of course.

 

This also seems to shorten the period that the rash is a problem, especially with fire ant bites. I don't get PI as much since I've moved to Florida, but I get FA bites all the time and a few hot water treatments gets rid of the itchy/annoying phase of the bite.

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Last Lap Gang:

Aside from doing what I can to prevent it, I think the best remedy that was recommended to me for relief (not cure) was a hair dryer. In the middle of the night, if I'm fighting the urge to itch, I head for the bathroom, and blow the hair dryer on it. I wave the HD back and forth, but really let it get to the point where I can barely stand it.

---

[Ruprex]

Yeah, good ole Poison Oak (in my case). I look at it wrong and it's all over me. It's sad that the mother is preventing her family from enjoying geocaching but moreover, the outdoors. Part of loving the outdoors is learning how to tame it. It'll be a cold day in (you know) when I don't let my kids play in the woods due to silly little plants. That's what the Internet is for. Learn to live with the plants and identify them. It’s not that hard. It much more fun to be able to point it out to folks who don't know what it is then to completely avoid the woods because of it.

 

Speaking of poison plants, anyone know of a product that you can put on before you go into the woods that prevents the poison from reacting rather then products that help with the rash after the fact??

 

-Let's play Global Thermonuclear War-

[Ruprex]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Web-ling:

As a kid, I never got PI. I get it all the time now. I've been in the ER several times because of it.

 

The best prevention (besides knowing what it looks like and staying out of it) that I've found is a product called Ivy Block. Just apply it like insect repellant before going out in the woods.

 

The best "after exposure" product I've found is TECNU cleanser.

 

I cache with kids a lot. My daughter has had one mild case. She apparently got some on her hands, then sucked her thumb...

 

http://www.ntga.nethttp://www.web-ling.com

 

And there's my answer...

 

-Let's play Global Thermonuclear War-

[+phantom4099]

quote:

---

Originally posted by infosponge:

I have a variation on this one: hot water.

 

If I have a PI rash or even Fire Ant bites, putting hot water from the tap/shower as hot & as long as you can stand it will relieve the itching. Be careful not to burn yourself, of course.

 

This also seems to shorten the period that the rash is a problem, especially with fire ant bites. I don't get PI as much since I've moved to Florida, but I get FA bites all the time and a few hot water treatments gets rid of the itchy/annoying phase of the bite.

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Last Lap Gang:

Aside from doing what I can to prevent it, I think the best remedy that was recommended to me for relief (not cure) was a hair dryer. In the middle of the night, if I'm fighting the urge to itch, I head for the bathroom, and blow the hair dryer on it. I wave the HD back and forth, but really let it get to the point where I can barely stand it.

---

---

 

I don't know if this is the best method for cleaning it if your just came in contact with it. Since hot water opens your poures it allows the oils to enter in there. I thinking washing with cold water first to get it off the top of the skin followed by a warm shower is best (this also work with fiberglass insulation).

 

Wyatt W.

 

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

[+Team JBSS]

I don't get poison ivy. I guess I'm one of the lucky few. There is an actual statisic showing the number of people that are immune to the poison.

If you want all types of info on this topic go to http://poisonivy.aesir.com/ it tells you all about it. I found particularly interesting that it takes less than a pin point of the oil to cause an outbreak.

 

Early in our geocaching ventures we were concerned about PI and I found the above web site. There are pictures you can print out and take them with you and make it a point to find the PI while geocaching. This way you'll become very familiar at glance.

Also, I just found at the web site there is a homopathic treatment called Oral IVy that may work for some of you. You take it daily to prevent the outbreak before you come in contact. I don't know if any of this works but, if your alergic to PI I would try anything and everything to curb the posibility of an outbreak if i came in contact with PI.

 

Check out the website

http://poisonivy.aesir.com/

[+Breaktrack]

I never got poison ivy when I was a kid, and I was in Scouts and went camping and hiking a LOT. The first time I ever got it was at Fort Knox, Kentucky in Army Boot Camp. A bunch of us volunteered to give blood one day when asked (as we knew we'd get away from some of the more "enthusiastic" drill sergeants for a good part of the day, but when we arrived at the clinic we had to wait for quite some time. The drill sergeant that had brought us there let us go sit under some trees in the shade as it was the middle of June and of course we all took the opportunity to lay down and goof off. Unfortunately, we laid down in a nice bed of poison ivy. The worst part is I knew what the stuff looked like but just didn't give it a thought. I wound up with pi nearly from head to foot for about the next three weeks of training, making life even more miserable than boot camp did all by itself....LOL. If I had only known some of these neat cures you have all listed here I think I'd have gotten over it much quicker, the Army's cure all was calamine lotion (sp) and that didn't really do much good.

 

 

"Trade up, trade even, or don't trade!!!" My philosophy of life.

[+mdawg & muffin]

Last summer my ex-wife said no more geocaching for our boys because of poison oak. Worst case I`ve ever seen on my youngest. I called my dad and he said to make a tea out of Mullin leaves and wash him in it while the tea was still warm. Believe it or not it dried up almost over night. I have always tried to carry a spray bottle with Dawn dishwashing liquid and water to wash down any exposed skin and a spray bottle with plain rubbing alcohol to spray afterwards. This usually works pretty good.

[+spinwebby]

I'd much rather have stinging nettles. As long as you wash them off, it clears up very quickly. My son got into some and broke out instantly with tiny little pimples. When we got back to the car, I gave him some Children's Sudafed and we rushed to the nearest bathroom. After we washed him off with soap and warm water, he was fine.

 

I always heard that you should use cold water to rinse off the poison ivy oil. If you use warm water, you'll spread the oil. But you have to catch it within 5-10 minutes of exposure. After that, there isn't much you can do, but treat the itch as best you can.

 

SpinWebby

www.gpgeocaching.com

 

[Tzan]

quote:

---

Check out the website

http://poisonivy.aesir.com/

 

J&B Super Sleuths, great site, thanks much!

 

quote:

---

Leaves of three, let it be!

---

[+Newenglandah]

This stuff works well, you can get it at any CVS, or Walmart........

 

Question, if those kids got the Poison Ivy playing in the yard, would they not be able to go outside anymore?

 

See you in the woods!

Natureboy1376

[Maine Mountainman]

You guys are right on. I've had PI more than I care to remember. I even got it in my eye once(on the eyeball itself). If you're exposed and you know it, You've got about 15min to get ino some cool water. Hot water feels great, but in most cases it makes it spread. Caladryl(did I spell that right?),oatmeal bath and the hair dryer all work well to relieve the itching. The only real cure is time.

We do have a plant here in Maine that grows wild and helps to clear up poison ivy. It's called sweet vine. It doesn't look like much, kind of a fern type leaf, but it smells very sweet. You usually find it growing in old truck roads, gravel pits, and old logging yards.

When made into a tea and applied to the blisters it works as well as anything else.

For the record, IT IS A BAD IDEA TO PUT ANYTHING ON YOU IF YOU ARE NOT dadgum SURE WHAT IT IS!

You could end up worse off than when you started.

Also, once you have poison ivy, avoid contact with oil of anykind,It makes the stuff spread like wild fire.

 

I don't know if this works on all types of poison ivy, some of you seem to have run into stuff like I have never seen.

Poison ivy trees?

Plants with stocks a foot thick?

Holy crow Jack, where do you live, the Amazon?

 

Maine MountainMan