A Brief Visual Guide To Poison Oak

A lot of my friends contact poison oak because they don't realize the many different ways it can present itself. A common conversation for me is something along the lines of:

 "You just sat on poison oak."
"THAT's poison oak??"
"Yes, you're sitting in it right now."
"But it doesn't look like poison oak."
"I don't know what you think poison oak looks like, but it looks like that, and you're sitting in it."

Do you wish to unknowingly touch poison oak?

No? Then you, dear reader, need A Gumby's Guide To Poison Oak. If you're new to the outdoors in the Western US or are taking out people who are then this brief guide may be of significant utility to you.

It's a ~ 5 minute read consisting mostly of pictures. Don't get a urushiol allergic reaction from the poak, read this little guide if you have any doubts as to the many colors and forms that the poak can take! 

Feedback welcome, either through email or directly through suggestions in the document.

Cheers!

I grew amongst poison oak. I can spot it instantly in all its forms and never touch it. I don’t get it, anyway.  But I also see people getting themselves in a bit of trouble with it.

I once was surveying with my business partner and left him on his own for a while. When I went to find him, he was cutting his way through a dense thicket of poison oak with a machete. He had to go to the hospital the next day. 

Interesting what remedies not to use at the end. 

When I was a kid I pointed out some poison ivy to a playmate. He insisted that it was not  poison ivy and we got into an argument about it. He grabbed a hand full and rubbed it on his face to prove me wrong. I didn't see him for a couple of weeks and he was very fortunate not to get it in his eyes. I don't ever remember saying 'I told you so' to him. I think I figured that he had suffered enough.

In Japan there is a lacquer art known as urushi (sp?) It is a known allergen and  is hard to safely work with. A person who had used it on occasion said it was basically poison sumac sap, YUK! Later I learned that the allergen in poison ivy, oak, and sumac is urushiol

Cool, and you ought to at least mention common lookalikes in the Sumac family like skunkbush that are NOT irritants, to limit concern and senseless shrub layer violence.

Thanks Ricky, it's awesome to see a concise post with good info that will help others navigate the outdoors.

Hard to discern without leaves.  Old saying: Leaves of 3, don’t touch me.

Then there are knuckleheads like me.  

I read an MP description of a multi-pitch route that indicated poison oak growing out of the P2 jam crack.  Led P2, merrily jamming my hands amidst “those stupid bushes”.