[catwoman]

Where's the Columbia Basin step lands?

[Bushwacker]

Rattlesnakes. No thank you. Had a close call while hunting. Pitchblack...5 a.m. A big ol' boy coiled up under my blind stand. Apparently, he didn't like being awakened that early. It sure woke me up! My backwards somersault with 2 1/2 twists would have gotten me in the Olympic Games. I can live with poison oak. BW

[Alan Bauer]

Columbia Basin steppe lands - = everwhere from Ellensburg to Waterville to Omak to Grand Coulee to Spokane to Tri-Cities to...well, you get the picture. Main area known as this is the region from Vantage to Ritzville, up to Grand Coulee, down to Tri Cities...etc....you create your own boundaries and definitions from there since everyone will have a different view!

[catwoman]

Thanks! I thought poison oak had oak-shaped leaves (lobed)! I'd have not noticed those for sure. Thanks for the ID.

[Tom]

I'm not sure about poicen oak but the old saying is leaves of three, let it be. http://www.troop5psc.com/PoisonOak/DillonOak.html

[Alan Bauer]

These plants shown are leaves that have just emerged within the past few days or a week---as they fully grow out they will become more "oak" shaped. Ah, the memories of having poisen oak as a kid on the farm in Oregon are still fresh!

[salish]

Thanks for the report & photo, Alan. I feel a little stupid; I've seen this plant and didn't even know it was poisen oak. Maybe like you say, when it's mature it looks more "oak shaped". Like you, I am more bummed by ticks than snakes. My wife works at the State Public Health Lab at Fircrest and they received their first "tick" of the season in the past couple of weeks. People who are out hiking or camping get these things embedded (like reporters) and pick the ticks off their bodies and send them in for study. Two summers ago I rented a fire lookout near Sisters, Oregon, and my buddies and I got infested with ticks. It was pretty disgusting. The CB Steppe lands are my hangout much of the year. We are extremely lucky to live in a state like this. Bushwacker - I almost sat down on a very healthy rattler up on Thompson Ridge, last October while deer hunting. I was sitting down in a rocky outcropping (duh) for about a half hour, glassing slopes, and when I got up to leave I noticed it curled up under some sagebrush just a few feet away from me. It was still cold and the sun hadn't hit it yet so it was lethargic. I really watched the ground after that.

[salish]

Thanks for the report & photo, Alan. I feel a little stupid; I've seen this plant and didn't even know it was poisen oak. Maybe like you say, when it's mature it looks more "oak shaped". Like you, I am more bummed by ticks than snakes. My wife works at the State Public Health Lab at Fircrest and they received their first tick of the season in the past couple of weeks. People who are out hiking or camping get these things embedded (like reporters) and pick the ticks off their bodies and send them in for study. Two summers ago I rented a fire lookout near Sisters, Oregon, and my buddies and I got infested with ticks. It was pretty disgusting. The CB Steppe lands are my hangout much of the year. We are extremely lucky to live in a state like this. Bushwacker - I almost sat down on a very healthy rattler up on Thompson Ridge, near Twisp, last October while deer hunting. I was sitting down in a rocky outcropping (duh) for about a half hour, glassing slopes, and when I got up to leave I noticed it curled up under some sagebrush just a few feet away from me. It was still cold and the sun hadn't hit it yet so it was lethargic. I really watched the ground after that.

[Mike E.]

As someone who is extremely sensitive to poison oak I learned what it looked like from an early age. Living on the east side of the Cascades and hiking a lot has put me in way too much contact with this plant. I have also found a product that really works to get the offending oils off your skin. It's called Tech-nu outdoor skin cleanser by Tec Industries in Albany Oregon. I don't have any connection to this outfit, but this stuff works...even if you use it after your skin starts to become inflamed. It sure beats the hell out of cortisone shots.

[polarbear-]

I saw some of this yesterday while hiking along the Columbia. Thanks for the post so I knew what to look for. It was within about 15 feet of the river.

[Timber Cruiser]

After working and living amongst the stuff in Oregon for 10 years, I can smell it driving down the road with the windows rolled up! Many people would be surprised to know that it grows in Washington and in the Puget Sound region. You'll find it on islands in the south sound as well as the San Juans and on some rocky south slopes in the Cascade foothills. There is an incredible patch of it along Marine View Drive in Tacoma as I am sure you will find in other similar areas along the Puget Sound Coastline. Bushwacker mentioned that he could tolerate the stuff, but what I found was most locals in Oregon that made this claim had not really been exposed to it. They also had a preventative method that involved eating leaves at the onset of the new growth. Don't know if that really worked. After hearing about people that inhaled smoke from burning plants and the misery that accompanied it I would never ingest P.O. leaves! The best remedy I found was taking antihistimines such as Contact. The penicillin shot did not provide me with any relief. The skin cleansers may work if you use immediately after contact, but unless you carry it with you it's more likely you won't use it for hours afterwards and then it's too late.

[dicentra]

Poison oak is found in a few places in the Olympics also. Lena lakes, spruce rr trail...

[marzsit]

poison oak is found everywhere in washington, even in city parks (seward is a good example..) so are nettles.. actually i've had more problems with nettles than poison oak when hiking. i carry a relatively lightweight pair of garden clippers and gloves with me just in case i need to do some trail maintenance...

[dicentra]

don't the oils (at least with poison oak) rub off on the gloves and then onto anything the gloves touch? Just be careful, I'd say!

[marzsit]

they probably do, but i don't touch myself while wearing them and keep them in a plastic bag when not being used.