Poison Ivy - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

If you are susceptible to Poison ivy (you know who you are) and you have completed a thru hike

A) how many days did you have it?
b) any preventions/precautions
c) how did you deal with it.

I get it bad.

Animal Mom(work)

#2

I got it bad one summer when I went to an outdoor rock concert in Mass. I think I’m fairly immune to it in the south though. If this makes any sense at all… This was my experience I swear! I don’t know if you can get accustomed to the regional varieties, but I’ve never gotten poison ivy (or oak or whatever) as bad as that summer. Did not get poison ivy/oak/sumac on the trail at all. Perhaps it was because I was out earlier in the year. I got sun-poisoning on my hands that made me think it was poison ivy. I think the best prevention is to keep an eye out for it along the trail corridor. I do this in the summertime religiously. In my experience the AT is well maintained and you won’t be walking thru fields of it. If you think you were exposed, of course you can dip in a cool stream. If you blister, cortisone is probably best or there’s other treatments that you can get in town. Hope this helps

Sweeper

#3

Well, it goes like this: if you are good at getting it and you’re a girl, to be frank, you’ll get it in Georgia in the winter when you go to see Mrs. Murphy…as Bramble did the first week…on her sitting parts. Poison ivy isn’t dormant just because it has no leaves, the light gray segmented twigs are still full of oil. Park to low and you could sit on the stuff. Unless you recognise it easily, with out leaves, pick and choice where you go with care. Ask you Doc for some special med cream in case you do get it to take with.

Bushwhack and Bramble

#4

If you get it and its around you will get it no matter how careful you are. I was just wondering how bad it gets, if you develop any immunities, if there are any new remedies.

So you got it only in GA?

I got it in vermont once. It’s the only thing I’m really concerned about. I get it it seems if I’m within 100 yards of it :frowning:

Animalm

#5

There is a cream that you can purchase that you put on prior to getting poison ivy as a preventative measure. Ask a pharmachist what it is called. Luckily I have never had it and I know I have walked in it, sat on and touched it many times. Thank you Lord!! One of my fellow hikers had it very bad on his face and around his eye, got it like the first couple of days out. HH

hamockhngr

#6

I get poison ivy very bad !!! I did not get any on my 1990 thru-hike because learned to identify it very easily. There are a number of trees on the A-T which have the vines hanging at head height which many people miss just looking for the plant on the ground. You can also get it before the leaves come out in the spring if can’t recognize the twisted stem of the plant without leaves. My best advice is to learn to be able to spot the plant or vine from a distance. Good luck on your hike! Jim “Scaper” Ga-Me 1990

Scaper

#7

I am unsure of how one can identify Poison Ivy. On my 2000 hike from Springer to Damascus I thought I had identified it and was seeing quite a lot of it, yet when I pointed it out to one of the other hikers he said it wasn’t Poison Ivy.

I would welcome some easy ways to recognise it if someone can help.

Downunda

#8

Ivy is a climbing vine, but not always, it takes on several different looks depending on what it has for support. On a fence post it like to bush out, on a tree it reaches for sun, on the ground it keeps sending out runners all over about one to three feet high. It sends out runners so where you find one “stalk/vine” you’ll find fifty in an area around the bigger parent. Very young Ivy looks like a thin gray twig poking out of the ground. It’s segmented, or every inch or so it has a “scale” or “node” that makes the stick take a slight turn. It can also sprout leaves from these nodes. As they get older they look for something to climb. Fence post, a tree, what ever. When the vine is about five years old it starts to get hairy or grow what looks like hiar all over the main trunk. These hairs are roots that help it suck dry what it’s attached to. Some very old parent plants can be six to ten inches across and over a hundred feet tall. Who’s seen the ones on the canal by Harpers Ferry? They shades the road grade! Folks, give me a day or two and I’ll post a pic of young growth. It looks like so many other trees that unless you really study it and can remember what it looks like you might still get some even when it’s dormant. I’ll post the pic on my journal and put in the address. Fear the sprouts, for they start at Springer!

Bushwhack

#9

I’ve been hospitalized with the stuff!! But I learned to recognize it very early on. Ivy Bloc is the over the counter ointment that is a preventive measure for it. I’ve used it when cleaning up around our church camp (which is covered with the stuff!) and have never had a case of it. Two years ago we hiked from Springer to Hiawasse in June and the trail was covered in it. It was even hanging from the trees. One problem is people often mistake it for VA creeper, they avoid the creeper and get in the ivy.

Charles

#10

I thought I would throw in a few notes since I have gotten it while taking a number two from early spring shoots and gotten it all over my body repeatedly. Once you wash off the oil, you can scratch and it wont spread, (it will hurt like crazy however), the oil is the only thing that spreads it. So I guess if you know you have been exposed, wash your skin as soon as possible.
scott

scott

#11

I took some pics at lunch and will load them tonite. Keeps some Benedryl(sp) in the first aid kit too.

Bushwhack

#12

Hey all. I loaded a half dozen ones I took today. Hope this helps identify it. Go to the Photo Gallery,AT, down to the Photographers; Bramble and Bushwhack, bottom of the list. All are dated today, 02/06/2002 Shoot me an e-mail if you need more info.

Bushwhack

#13

Thanks Bushwack, those photos are most useful to me. Can I ask a dumb question? I assume that the green foilage on the ground (in the last or second last photo) is also part of the ivy. Could you confirm that for me please?

Downunda

#14

Sorry, that’s just weeds. Ivy is bare in the winter(I’m in Ohio)In the Spring they sprout little green leaves, light green, when the weather warms three distinct dark shiny ones appear with a mitten shape. Sorry, but the best…and worst pics are on the web. Let me see if I can find a good one for us. Back soon, Jon

Bushwhack

#15

Oops, red when young. Try this site, good pics.
http://res2.agr.ca/ecorc/poisivy/pois.html

Bushwhack