Poison Oak — Get Ready for a Blistering Hiking Season

Poison oak near my house

On a recent hike to the falls in Rancho Sierra Vista I noticed that it’s not just the lacy phacelia that’s super-blooming. As noted by the California Poison Control System, there’s a bumper crop of poison oak along the trails. In some places it’s practically unavoidable.

I also noticed that a lot of people didn’t recognize the plant and just brushed on by. I’ll bet they are itching to know more now.

How to Identify Poison Oak

I can usually spot poison oak leaves by their shape — they are usually lobed and about the same color and size as a coast live oak. The plant grows like a shrub or a vine.

But it’s not always easy to distinguish poison oak leaves, particularly in the late spring or early summer. This year’s crop of poison oak seems to me to have larger, more oval leaves.

Leaves are more oval than the usual lobed leaves

I had my first poison oak encounter when I was about eight. I was exploring a creek down behind a neighbor’s house. The shortcut home was overgrown with plants on both…