As we set out on the Shoup Bay trail, I commented to Rowan, “Isn’t it nice that we don’t have to worry about poison ivy when we hike in Alaska?” We’d just seen our first poison ivy while on our rafting trip in Idaho, happily only from a no-contact distance. Then, just a mile or so down the trail, we met Urtica dioica.
According to The Boreal Herbal by Beverly Gray (a fascinating book I picked up hot off the press in Whitehorse), the stinging nettle’s common name “may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon noedl, or needle, which speaks to the plant’s needle-like sting.” The genus name is from the Latin urere, “to burn.” How apropos!
I’m not quite sure how, in 42 years of living in Alaska, I’d managed to avoid stinging nettles up to this point. I’ll be sure to avoid them in the future! We first met as I was reaching for a nice, plump, ripe salmonberry. Suddenly I felt a stabbing pain in the tender underside of my upper arm. I jerked back, looking wildly for the culprit. I saw a long plant with small green flowers and leaves not unlike those of the salmonberry plant. Hmm, was that the one? Sure enough, before long first Rowan and then I cried out in pain as our shins came under attack. I’d never seen it before, but I was sure this plant was a stinging nettle.
If you’ve only ever walked the first mile or so of the Shoup Bay Trail, the section that takes you to the beach, you’ve probably been safe. The trail is nice and wide through that section and the nettles didn’t seem to be particularly abundant. It was as the trail started to climb steeply and narrow significantly that they became more prevalent. Some of the long whip-like stalks stretched completely across the trail.
This was the first time either Rowan or I had hiked back to Gold Creek. It was a splendid day for our adventure: sunny, about 70 degrees, and breezy enough to keep us cool when we passed through the right wind currents. Actually, I suspect the perfect weather made us prime targets for the nettles. We were both sweating profusely, all pores wide open and ready to accept any available toxin.
Did you know that the pain-causing compound in stinging nettles is formic acid? This is the same compound found in the “beetle juice” used to treat warts. Thane’s experience with it demonstrated that applying “beetle juice” to a wart causes huge, weeping, incredibly painful blisters. Although neither Rowan nor I had any visible reaction to the nettles, I understand that they, too, can cause a blistery rash.
View from trail toward Valdez
Despite the nettles, we enjoyed our foray back to Gold Creek. The hike out took at least a half-hour longer than the hike back because Rowan had to amble along like an overstuffed black bear grazing on the salmonberries. She was too tired to bother (as much) on the way back.
I’d seen the trail from the water and knew it traversed the mountainside along the bay, but it was quite a different experience to hike it. The trail wasn’t any wider than you could reasonably walk on and I couldn’t help but notice that a slight misstep to the ocean side would send you plummeting down a steep cliff with nothing but alders to break your fall. The precariousness wasn’t helped by the slippery dry grass covering the trail, or by the steepness of the trail.
We had a nice late-lunch picnic at the Gold Creek campground and reveled in refreshing our bare feet in the creek’s frigid water. When I suggested we take off our shoes and wade, Rowan declared the whole idea, “Quite unladylike!” Given than her tongue was thoroughly embedded in her cheek, she wasted no time in joining me. Indeed, her feet were so tired by the end of the hike that she walked the last mile barefoot just to be out of her shoes.
View from mouth of Gold Creek looking west
I caught another nettle on one finger on the way back, but other than that we remained further unscathed. I noticed, however, that the slighted brush from a stalk of grass would start my shin burning again. Rowan particularly complained that her shower after we got home made her leg itch again. Neither of us had the energy to wander out to the swale running through our lawn to collect the natural remedy: plantain (Plantago major). Apparently, a spit poultice of plantain (or dock or horsetail) applied to the affected area will relieve the symptoms. So, too, will moistened baking soda.
I’m quite confident that Ms. Gray is correct when she reports that stinging nettle is a delicious and nutritious green, as well as plant with a variety of medicinal uses. I do not plan, however, to engage in harvesting the next time I wander out to Gold Creek.
Mouth of Gold Creek
