Jewish Outdoor Adventures    Things to know WESTERN POISON OAK Stompting grounds: Western Washington and Oregon, and most of California. Distinguishing features: Usually appears as an upright shrub with many small, woody stems. Its three leaflets are all lobed and are usually glossy and uneven, with a thick, leathery appearance. Greenish or creamy-white berrylike bruits appear about mid-October and stay through the winter. Catechol Protocol Contact with any of the three-leved monster poison ivy, or its cousin poison oak and sumac, means exposure to catechol, the chemical behind the itchy misery. Your best protections is to know your enemy and skitter past it, because once its juice has touched your skin you have only five to ten minutes to wash it off with soap and water. In 18 to 48 hours blisters and swelling will alert you to any catechol you might have missed. Over-the-counter preparations such as calamine lotion, Itch-X, and Sana will relieve the itching temporarily. If the rash and discomfort endure - as they can for as much as three weeks - you might want to go to your doctor, who can prescribe an anti-inflammatory steroid cream or an injectino. That should help just in time for the next weekend's wiser foray. -Dorothy Foltz-Gray. Outside Magazine, October 1994.