Leaves of Three... Let Them Be

I guess I didn't let them be.

One of the hazards of hiking is poison oak. I must have brushed up against some during our hike in the Pinnacles. It's Spring and since the leaves are still green, I may not have noticed them among the rest of the verdant foliage.

A couple of days after our hike, while I was in the shower, I noticed a rash on the underside of each elbow, a patch on the back side of my shoulder, and one patch on my upper arm. Unfortunately, by the time I noticed it, I had already had a couple of hot showers, letting the urushiol - the chemical that causes the allergic contact dermatitis - sink deeper into my open pores.

Fortunately, there are treatments, but they aren't a panacea. Tecnu or Zanfel are probably the best products on the market, but they should be used immediately and with cold water so that the urushiol oil doesn't sink deeper into the pores. After that the only thing you can do is treat the symptoms with a hydrocortisone cream to decrease the swelling and/or a Benadryl cream to reduce the itching.

I've used them. I'm still itching. It's been almost two weeks. Time to visit the doctor and see if there is something stronger to stop this dead in its tracks.

Meanwhile, I suspect my backpack may also be infected. I used hot soapy water, with Dawn detergent, to wash my backpack thoroughly. I've also ordered some Ivy Wipes, which are supposed to help clean off equipment. Urushiol is found in poison oak, but also in poison ivy and poison sumac.

I really don't want to do this again. And I sure don't want to reinfect myself just before attempting Half Dome for the second time.

Tapering Down at Rancho San Antonio

Today, we tapered down, doing a shorter less strenuous hike at Rancho San Antonio. Our objective was to do the full PG&E Trail looping back down on the Wildcat Trail to Deer Hollow Farm and back to the parking lot. About eight miles long.

The hike itself was unremarkable, although I noticed that it was a lot easier than the first time I did it. That time we only did half the distance. I took half as much water as I usually do and I actually used very little of it. The weather cooperated and we had the marine layer which thinned into a high haze that kept temperatures lower than they otherwise would have been.

The poison oak was itself spectacular today, giving us all quite the warning. Don't touch! As with many of the other parks we have hiked in this season, the wildflowers were in full display.


Clematis Vitalba, or Old Man's Beard, classified as a pest in New Zealand, is a fine with white fluffy flowers with tendril-like petals. Apparently this thing kills whatever it grows over.

Chamise is a very beautiful plant that throws up sprigs of tiny white flowers.

California Golden Poppies were ubiquitous. Also in view was the Blue Nightshade, (a relative of the tomato).
Blue Nightshade, a relative of the tomato with it's beautiful yellow centers, was also in evidence.

There were also some beautiful stands of Alstroemeria, commonly called the Lily of the Incas or the Peruvian Lily. Some of them appeared in orange, while there were others in a beautiful deep shade of red.

Also in evidence was the Pacific Monardella, a beautiful cornflower blue cluster of tiny flowers.

Perhaps the most stunning flower that we saw today was the Mariposa Lily. They come in a variety of colors and patters; today's version was basic white with green and red centers.

This beautiful flower is called Farewell to Spring, a Clarkia, presumably because it blooms at the end of spring. Its vibrant purple colors were absolutely stunning.



Do you have any idea how many yellow daisy-like flowers are out there? Lots of them! This one is called Curly Gumweed.

We reached Deer Hollow Farm near the end of our hike. Three of the female goats had just given birth to some kids and they were really cute, walking around awkwardly and unsteadily on their brand new legs. We hiked about 3.5 hours this morning, a little bit longer than our 2.5 hour goal, but by no means as long as we hiked on the previous two weekends.

Black Mountain

Since I had a hike to make up, and because I am training for Half Dome, I decided to meet mentor Deb and teammate Matt for a Sunday morning hike up to the summit of Black Mountain.

We met at the trailhead, got ready and started off at about 8:00 am. There was almost no warm up period, perhaps only the first 100 feet or so. After that, the trail went sharply up for the next mile or so. After that, however, the trail wound around the ridge of the mountain at a more gentle incline with many switchbacks. Most of the trail had quite a bit of cover, which was good because it was a bright sunny day.

We did the other half of Black Mountain when we hiked up the PG&E trail at Rancho San Antonio Park. The Black Mountain Trail meets the PG&E Trail along the way.

The final half mile to the summit was quite steep, although not nearly as difficult as the Stanford Avenue side of Mission Peak. We hiked to the junction with Montebello Road, a fire road that goes up to the antenna installation at the peak. Apparently, there is a winery further down Montebello Road and we had some discussion about a wine tasting fundraiser being a great way to end a hike!

There were not as many wildflowers in evidence on this hike, although there was lots and lots of poison oak. Nevertheless, I have so far managed to avoid it.

Amazingly, I was not at all sore after this hike. Maybe just a tad, but definitely less sore than after finishing our Almaden Quicksilver hike yesterday.