Poison Ivy.  I’d like to say in our never-ending desire to provide you,  our guests,  with the most up to date information on the Smoky Mountains and surrounding area I have intentionally gone out and contacted poison ivy in order to gain first-hand knowledge before writing on the subject.  Well, that would all be true except for the intentionally part 🙂

In fact,  I am not even sure it is poison ivy that I have gotten into.  It could be anyone one of a number of poisonous plants from poison oak to sumac.  But while weed whacking the edges of the road this week I got into something that is causing blisters and itches!

But this is what I’d like for all of you to know.  We do have many species of poisonous plants in the wood.  I have not heard from any guest having gotten into it,  but I have noticed some tracks of what I think are children who have probably been venturing down around one of the steep cabins located on the mountainside.  That is probably not a very good idea.  First of all, it is very steep and secondly, you may run into something you would rather not encounter!

Here are some good rules of thumb to remember when visiting the mountains!

  1. Wear long sleeves and pants when hiking through the wood.
  2. If you see “3” (the number of leaves), Leave it be!
  3. Stay to area’s that have been cleared and are for guest use.

And if you think you may have gotten into poison ivy,  wash the area thoroughly with warm soapy water.  If you can get the oil off your skin quickly enough- you won’t get it.

Now I checked online for images of poison ivy and I got many differing looking plants.  The plants I got into have some of the characteristics, but not all.  So I am still not entirely sure what I got into.  I am not a plant biologist.  But I would hasten to warn any nudists not to be running around the wood in the buff!  Keep your sense of humor and we’ll see you in the mountains at Smoky Mountain Golden Cabins,  where we go the extra mile for you,  our customers!

Note:  Further study into local plants I came across this video on spotting Poison Ivy.  Some of the weeds I came across that looked like poison ivy have thorns on the steams,  leading me to believe they are what the man in the video calls “bramble”.  This is a very helpful video for identifying poison ivy!