Bad Year For Poison Oak

by Ray Allen
(Tulsa, OK)

The cool valley breezes swept through my hair and the buzzards lazily rode a thermal over our heads. Idyllic. Looking down though my eyes bulged at the sheer size of this behemoth poison oak bush we were standing in obliviously.

The Yosemite Gods have always smiled on us though. As I just started to bemoan our situation, my partner started beating his chest and roared into the heavens. Reaching into his backpack, he grinned the Cheshire Cat grin. "Care for some Sasquatch Itch Cream?" he asked. We wiped down with alcohol swaps and rubbed the Sasquatch onto our ankles (well Fankles really). Ahhh. Ten ticks of the hour hand later, no rash.

The Gods of Yosemite work in mysterious ways my friends. Just like Frodo was granted the Ring, I was blessed with Sasquatch Itch Cream to ward off the evils of that three leafed devil plant. Poison oak cannot compete with the beauty of this National treasure Yosemite.



See Kathy's Reply:


Oh, that is too funny! Thanks for sharing. It reminds me of a hike we took in July to Vernal Falls. Our kids were slightly ahead of my husband and I as we came down from the waterfall. As I watched my footing heading downhill, I was almost knocked over by three children around the ages of 7-10 years old.

About 5 minutes later I saw one of the children sitting on the side of the trail pulling the leaves off of a vine wrapped around the base of a tree. He said, "1, 2, 3". Then did it again and again and yet again. He had a pile of leaves in his lap. He was pulling the leaves off of a poision oak vine!

I thought to myself, "the parents of those children are going to be very very sorry that they let their children run so far ahead of them!" I smiled, and kept on walking.



Learn To Recognize Poision Oak