God has a sometimes peculiar sense of humor. Poison Oak stands as
one good example. Sometimes green leaves, sometimes red leaves, sometimes
neither or maybe both. Maybe low to the ground. Maybe 40' or higher. Sometimes
small leaves, sometimes big, othertimes, none. Often times, hiding within other
plants (blackberries are really common hideouts) or out in plain view. The only
thing constant about Poison Oak (and really not very humorous) is that it's
always poisonous to humans.
Some people have the good fortune to not be sensitive to Poison Oak. Those people should be forewarned, however, that there is no such thing as immunity to Poison Oak; each exposure increases an individual's sensitivity to the active agent (urushiol) until, one day, a person becomes "suddenly" allergic.
So what happens if you become allergic? You develop an intensely itchy rash that blisters and weeps. It's a real mess. For those with extreme sensitivity, it can be life threatening.
A really annoying thing about Poison Oak is that you don't actually have to come in contact with the plant to develop the rash. When the leaves drop in the fall, they dry, crumble and become part of the soil. In the process, uruishol is added to the soil; get some of that soil on you and a rash is likely to develop. (I was once working in my yard (in a heavily poison oak infested area) on a bird feeder. It was a hot day and I had my shirt off. After cleaning, I remounted the bird feeder on it's 5' high pole. A few days later, I had a pole-wide, straight-line rash running down the inside of my arm, across my arm pit and along the side of my chest. I had leaned against the dusty pole when putting the bird feeder back up.)
Another annoying thing about it is that the whole plant is toxic. This is bad news in the winter time when there are no leaves on plants that still have plenty of bare and toxic branches to poke and scratch you.
So what does all of this have to do with abalone diving? There isn't an abalone dive spot I've ever visited where Poison Oak wasn't everywhere. To get to the water, you're going to pass by (over, through, in and around) Poison Oak. If you don't know what it looks like, you'd best find out in order to avoid it. If you chose not to heed this advice, I have great confidence mother nature will get around to teaching this lesson with greater gusto than I.
Check other on-line sources for more information about Poison Oak than any sane person reasonably wants to know.
Last Modified: August 14, 2005
