What
Hiking stick? Good for Grizzly Adams crossing a snowfield. Good for Charleton Heston crossing the Sinai. Good for Little John to cudgel Robin Hood. For actual hiking? Too heavy, too unwieldy, won't fit in the car.
But there is good news. Someone crossbred the hiking stick with ski poles. Voila! The Trekking Pole!
Why
Make Every Climb a 4-Point Climb - Using a set of poles your stability is nearly doubled. It's like always having that perfectly placed branch or tree root to grab when you need a boost up or a steadying hand down. Especially on steep downhills, putting those sticks in front makes the descent easy. Um, easier.
Extend your reach - Wow, do we like these for crossing water. Creeks, rivers, rain puddles, mule puddles, snow melt, when you're feet are relegated to skinny or tippy rocks and logs, the trekking poles reach down through the water or out to dry land to stabilize and propel.
Use your arms - Legs tired? Well no kidding, you make 'em work hard. Using the sticks shares the labor with arms and shoulders. Yes you tire them out too but your legs will last longer.
Save your joints - Knees and ankles are susceptible to turns and twists. Having extra points of support lets you transfer weight off a joint that's being jeopardized by a slip or slide or stepping on a round rock. And older joints (i.e. cartilage deficient) are abused just by bearing weight. The sticks help immensely.
Save your face - Sometimes you fall. Yes, it's true: you slide on loose pebbles; a root grabs your foot; a dirt foothold fails; you faceplant. Never again!* With the trekking pole you have a saving handhold with you at all times. *Please read website disclaimer.
Improve your speed - Most of the benefits from trekking poles are found on uphills, downhills and crossings. But another useful feature is the increase in speed you enjoy even on level terrain. Adding your upper body strength to your leg strength can pay serious speed dividends. If that's how you care to invest.
Fend off squirrels - Ground squirrels abound at popular resting spots and get quite aggressive. You can protect your trail mix or lunch from the moochers with some vigorous pole pokes. If you score a hit and no one else is around you can yell touché.
Pick Sticks
Early on we wasted our money on sticks that were too big and heavy for our hiking style: lumbar packs and intermittent stick usage. As we ultimately discovered, we needed poles light and compact enough that we could carry them everywhere and deploy them when we wanted.
Our Specifications:- Collapsible.
- Weight 1 lb max.
- Strong locking system.
- Carrying length 15 inches max.
- Adjustable hiking length 41-49 inches.
- Hand straps.
We currently use Black Diamond® FLZ Trekking Poles, medium length. They are light, easy to set up and break down, and have lasted us through hundreds of miles of rocks, dirt and mud.
How
Pack - These sticks fold to about the width of our lumbar pack. If you use a backpack instead, the length of the collapsed pole is less critical, but if you carry them horizontally you don't want the ends catching on branches or rock walls. Or other hikers. Together these only weigh about a pound which is good no matter what kind of pack you use.
Unpack - When they have been unstrapped from your pack and unfolded, the loose segments are then united with a short pull from the top. The mechanism locks by means of a spring lock that is later pressed to re-segment the stick. The Black Diamond trekking poles come with little protective/transport bags. We never found them helpful and they reside in the basement with our obsolete poles.
Lock & set length - Length is chosen and locked into place with a finger clamp. Length is easily set and readily adjusted: shorter for uphill, longer for down, which is why adjustable length is a critical spec. The whole deployment takes about two minutes, and half that time is spent fussing with pack straps.
Why Not
To be fair, there are legitimate objections to using trekking poles.
- "They make me look old and feeble" - It's all in your head. On the other hand if you actually are old and feeble, who cares? Which calls to mind this one time in Bryce Canyon when a smart-alecky guy asked if I was doing some skiing. He laughed. His toadies laughed. My comeback was incredibly witty although it came to me much later that day.
- "I can't swat mosquitoes" - Yes you can. But you'll be really slow and the bottom of the pole will smack your ankle. Yeah, the free hands are no longer free. Makes taking photographs awkward as well. You slip your hands out of the loops and drop the poles or you lift the camera while they swing and clank.
- "I almost impaled my husband" - I know. I almost impaled my wife. Sometimes the back swing is a little too vigorous, endangering a companion. Following someone with trekking poles demands a little extra space. I also almost impaled that guy in Bryce, but that was different.
- "I get really sunburned along my index finger, thumb and wrist" - Oh. Right. That area gets constant exposure to direct sun when you're using the sticks. You should make that one of your sunblock emphasis areas along with your nose and the tops of your ears.
- "Now my neck and shoulders ache" - Duh. You just had an upper body workout. Hey your arms should ache a little too.
- "I'm young, strong and flexible and leap rocks like a deer" - I'm so sorry you wasted your time reading this.
Bottom Line
Trekking poles can be valuable trail tools. Although they are not for everybody, the right set matched with the right person provides a wonderful extension of strength and stamina.