Day 30 : The poodledog

19th May 2013
Mile 396 to mile 418 : Cooper Canyon trailcamp to Mill Creek Ranger Station
Mileage : 22

The poddledog bush took centre stage today. The poodledog bush is a poisonness flowering shrub that causes severe irritation when touched, and is one of the major hazards of this section. The seeds lay dormant in the soil until disturbed, usually by fire or something similar. It then grows and blooms before dying off when the cycle starts again. This section of the PCT has seen several large fired in recent years, some caused by nature, some by accident, and some by intent. The result is hundreds of PCT hikers pirouetting around the plant whenever it appears on the trail, and this takes time. When in the groove I can easily maintain 3mph for several hours, but in these sections that sort of speed could result in getting the invisible poisonness hairs all over me, my clothes and my rucksack. And given that it takes anywhere from 2 to 9 days for the severe blistering to kick in, and given the hairs stick to whatever they touch there is considerable scope for a trip to hospital. The plant is similar in appearance to Marijuana and according to trail myth, some idiot mistake it for such, tried to smoke it, and spent a long time in hospital with severe respiratory problems and blistered lungs. Not good. The nature of the plant also makes it difficult to remove. Burning it doesn't do good in the long term as any dormant seeds respond to the heat and it just grows back at speed, any attempt to hack it away just releases the hairs into the air where they are inhaled by the unfortunate trail worker, and the hairs can't easily be washed off so any contaminated clothes remain so, and can contaminate anything else into which they come contact. All the above means all hikers treat the plant with extreme care, and it means that in infested areas the hiking speed can be much, much lower either adding time to the day, or cutting miles. Wherever the trail is impassible, it means a road detour. Although clearly a road detour is way better than nothing at all, they are generally not fun. The surfaces of the roads, even dirt roads, are a lot harder than the trail and really hurt the feet. Being wider than the trail they are usually exposed to the sun, and take more circuitous routes than the PCT, but sometimes, like today there is no other option but to take them. I'm glad the burn area is small.

Pretty as it is, the Poodledog bush is to be avoided at all times.