Cottam Camp near Santa Barbara.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I live in Santa Barbara. I can drive 40 minutes or less and be at a trailhead to the back country. I always wanted write a book called Quickie Overnighters, but there are so many places you can do this near Santa Barbara there’s no way to narrow it down.

This time Tony and I drove 40 minutes to the Romero Trailhead at Camino Cielo and did an 8 mile round trip backpack to Cottam Camp.

[Erica R]

Nice!

Unfortunately, the poison oak factor is a huge barrier for me.

If you write a book about trails without poison oak I’ll be first in line to buy it…

I’m sure you know about this website http://www.hikelospadres.com/cottam-campground.html
The water reports are very useful.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Yes, that’s a good site. It can take a long time to load that map but you can ignore the map and still see the rest of the information.

I have found that poison oak is largely manageable with full-length clothing and the ability to identify it so easily you can ID it with your peripheral vision. If you do come in contact with it, wash the area immediately even just with some plain cold water. After the hike, put your laundry in the wash before you shower.

In the end, for the vast majority of people, poison oak is just a rash. It is not death, it’s not an illness, it’s just annoying. If you are one of the few who will die from it, disregard the previous sentence and move on from this post. I find that most people are unduly frightened by poison oak and that friends of mine who get it easily and severely would rather enjoy the backcountry and deal with the rash than stay home.

[Rex Sanders]

I was immune to poison oak until age 35, then quite suddenly not. Quickly mastered identification in all forms at full hiking speed. Learned to limbo around and under branches hanging in trails. Became skeptical about sitting on nice, cushy piles of leaves until close inspection. Trial and error taught me to scrub with cold water and mud or sand from creeks ASAP after exposure.

While I don’t suffer too much from a poison oak rash, I look horrible. Picture a zombie with oozing sores. I’ve wrapped legs and arms in bandages mostly to stop scaring other people.

Old joke was that treating poison oak rash would clear up symptoms in 14 days, otherwise it took two weeks. Zanfel is bloody expensive but really works within a day or two. Recommended it to friends with horrible cases; they’ve thanked me repeatedly.

Poison oak sucks, but it’s not the end of the world for most people. Tick-borne diseases are another story.

— Rex

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