I was reading through this discussion and appreciate the many comments on poison ivy. Where I am we have both poison Ivy and poison oak. I am constantly having to clear it out and usually catch a certain amount of it at least once a year. Some of the vines I have pulled down from trees or bushes near a creek bed have been 1 inch in diameter.
If one does not break out due to poison ivy or oak, count yourselves very fortunate. My experience has been that once you do get it, nothing helps except a cortizone shot from the doctor. What a miracle drug. I only get that if I catch it bad.
And, I burn the devil out of it in huge brush piles. The smoke has never caused me any problem from it. I treat it like a rattlesnake when I see it and cut it down.
A couple of years ago someone told me that if you know you have gotten in it, as long as you rinse off with water within an hour, you won't catch it. For me, this has proven to be right. I have waded through the stuff with a weed eater scattering it all over me. But I made sure that every 40 minutes or so, I would rinse off in the creek. And it worked, for me anyway.
Yep, that fragile environment can wear you out.
Good-Ole-Rebel