A couple of weeks ago a friend and I hiked into Grand valley, in the northern Olympic National Park!! The trip was amazing! It was everything I thought it would be and that i promised it would be to my friend. Thanks goodness!! Beautiful snow capped mountains, amazing sunsets, 35 brook trout caught (all released) , wildlife (black bear) and POISON OAK!!!
I had never experienced poison oak before. I had heard about it and seen it occasionally but this time it stung me!
A five days after our backpacking trek while at home I spotted a red zit like nuisance on my left ankle. Not thinking, I scratched it and opened up the sore. The zit like volcano on my ankle was slightly hard to the touch. After opening it a clear liquid leaked out.
I remember two days later seeing a patch of itchy rashes pop up a couple inches above the zit on my high ankle. At this point I still didn't put two and two together.
Within a week from first discovering the "zit", I had itchy rashes on one arm, chest and one both hips.
My first guess was hives. I'd never been allergic to anything or had hives before.
I talked to a friend who is a nurse and showed her the rash. Her response was poison oak or ivy!!! She asked if the rash was moving toward my groin?!!! Huh yeah it is!!! She explained that it was a sign of poison oak!
The situation was looking grim!! That night i quickly bought the following: Calamine lotion, gold bond medicated lotion, and Zanfel
Gold bond helped the itching go away for up to 4 hours but then had to reapply. It did nothing to stop or dimish the rash!
The Calamine lotion was the cheapest of all three! The kind I bought was generic. It worked well stopping the itching lastly longer than gold bond! I applied three times daily. Three times per 16 hours which equals about just over 5 hours per treatment. It was hard to apply as it was in liquid form then dried as i applied.
Then their was the Zanfel!!! It worked like a charm. Amazing stuff! Definately worth the price of $40$!! Yeah I know $40$ dollars. Albertsons was going out of business so the total came to 28. Still spendy but at that point the rash was spreading and heading towards my groin!! Throwing down 28 bones, $, took no time at all!
Zanfel comes in a small plastic squeeze tube at 1 ounce. Directions :
1- wet the affected area
2- squeeze 1 and 1/2 inches, no less , of Zanfel onto one palm
3- wet both hands and rub the product into a paste. This activates the ingredients.
4- rub both hands on the affected area, working Zanfel in until itching stops.
5- rinse area thoroughly
I rubbed Zanfel into my rashes for several minutes. Zanfel is gritty, like bath scrubs, and while rubbing you can feel it literally rubbing into the rash!
The itching stopped instantly after washing! I had to reapply a couple areas which were very bad. I noticed that the 1 and 1/2 inches of Zanfel works best when rubbing into an area the size of your hand. With a larger area than a hand it's not as effective!
Poison oak does not quickly effect you. It took 5 days for the first spot to pop up. A friend and experienced hiker told me about this and how poisen oak will effect people differently. He had friends who ran into poisen oak but never developed itching or a rash.
I'm now well prepared next time I come across this enemy. No more surprises here!! Next time, knocking on wood, I will just use calamine lotion at first. Only if the rash is small and caught in time. Zanfel would definitely be step two! When poison oak is moderate to severe I suggest Zanfel!!
Continued on from 42 MILES 4 PASSES in 3 DAYS: Day 1
The nice thing about not being in the mountains on my backpacking journey yet was the fact that i woke up to a hot continental breakfast and slept in until 9 am! The extra sleep would eventually come in handy!!!
Packing up, i left the motel at 11am and walked down to the auto shop only to find out there's nothing wrong with my car!! Really?!! That morning the mechanic came to work on my car and it started right up, no problem. I remember the mechanic saying to me, " oh yeah go backpacking like you planned. If it dies again you have 4,000 downhill feet to pop the clutch into gear!". I laughed and agreed! I paid my $ 35 $ and threw my backpack in car and off i drove to the trailhead arriving there at 1pm. Nineteen hours later than planned. The dirt road heading up to the trailhead was nerve cracking, to say the least. It was one lane with quick corners and a huge severe drop off on the right! I felt like I was back in china just traveling to the next town on an average road in a filled to capacity average bus! 
Once at the trailhead a volunteer park ranger insisted on taking my photo. She said my mom would definitely appreciate it!! And She was right! We started to chat and I explained my situation: The choice! Either keep the plan of hiking a 42 mile loop or cut the trip in half because of loosing 19 hrs. She was surprised I hadn't made my choice yet.
I would like to take the time to thank all the volunteers who spend many summer hours helping our state's and national parks and trails!!! Endless thanks!!
The view from Deer park campground is amazing!! 5,000 feet up the trailhead started. I stood for a couple minutes analyzing the ranges which laid to my south. My route lead me to hike .2 miles on Slab camp trail to the start of the Three Forks trail. Three Forks trail heads down 4.1 miles of switchbacks through an old burned area as it looses about 2,750 feet!! This backpacking trek I had a lot of firsts and this was one of them. I had never lost so much elevation at the start of a hike let alone starting a hike at 5,000 feet! Three Forks campground boasts of a nice shelter.
On the way down Three Forks trail i realized that my 1.5 liter camelbak was having problems. The tube while on the ride up had something large pressing on it. A small hole was visible along with the tube being almost completely flattened along 1 inch. I was still able to suck water through the tube but it took extra power! I had to be careful to not fully rip the tube as my sawyer water filter was spliced into the tube, or so i thought. Somehow when i cleaned it last i never put the clamps back on. The tube still gripped the filter tightly. Thank goodness!
Crossing Cameron Creek i had to make my final decision!!! 38 more miles or 21.5 miles in three days!?? My original goal or the smaller goal? It was only 2:30 pm and i had been able to go down 4.1 miles in a hour and a half. Great time! The rest of today's journey wasn't estimated as hard elevation gain and i knew i would have the most energy today, day one! The decision was made and 38 miles it was! All four passes!! If finished would be another first!
Cameron Creek trail is needed for about .4 miles to connect to Gray Wolf trail. Seven and half more miles lay between me and my first camp, not to mention back up to alpine beauty! The Gray Wolf river is definitely a river compared all the other flowing bodies of water i passed on this trek! The river basin is pristine with rapids, log jams, with tall firs and cedars hovering over the river. Out of all the rivers and creeks i passed over on this trip the Gray Wolf was the most majestic!!
On the way up to camp i passed by a group who was heading up to Cedar lake junction for the night. They were going to conduct a marmot count up in Gray Wolf Basin the following day. The monitoring was to learn if the population was struggling or not. Once in the basin i only counted one marmot! Of course it was the scout who boastfully sounded his alarm almost endlessly!!
I stopped at Fall camp, where the Marmot counters were staying the night, and took a short brake. The trail for Cedar Lake starts at Fall Camp and two hikers i crossed sang it's praises! Next time, with a fishing pole in hand!!
Next switchbacks suddenly popped up and i knew i was almost to camp. Salmonberry bushes covered the forest floor and i was able to eat to my heart;s delight for about 10 minutes. I must have been the first hiker up the Gray Wolf in awhile as spider web after spider web tried to ensnare me. The Lower Gray Wolf basin opened up after the switchbacks were defeated. The basin was perfect with open meadows, enough trees for my hammock and a creek to use for supper's cooking. All in all, even with all the obstacles i waded through i couldn't think of a better way to spend the evening watching the sun's rays slowly rise up the 7,000 ft tall peaks of the Needles!!
