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yogi
03-07-2012, 10:01
Hey AT people! I need some advice. I stopped using trekking poles several years ago. I brought them with me for the AT this year. I've hiked to Franklin so far and I haven't used them at all. I'm sending them home, but I don't know if/when I should get them back. I hiked the AT in 1999, and I remember there were some fords where poles were helpful. Would I need poles for the Whites also? Where would you recommed picking up my poles again?

Spokes
03-07-2012, 10:04
I'd consider grabbing them in Hanover. You'll ford in Maine for sure.

moldy
03-07-2012, 10:19
Not much use for them in the White's. They end up strapped to your pack for both steep climbs and drops because you need your hands to climp. I ended up tripping over them.

Pedaling Fool
03-07-2012, 10:28
Hey AT people! I need some advice. I stopped using trekking poles several years ago. I brought them with me for the AT this year. I've hiked to Franklin so far and I haven't used them at all. I'm sending them home, but I don't know if/when I should get them back. I hiked the AT in 1999, and I remember there were some fords where poles were helpful. Would I need poles for the Whites also? Where would you recommed picking up my poles again?If you haven't used them on a hike into Franklin, then you probably just don't need them at all.

As for fording using a stick is just as helpful if not more so, I forded the Kennebec with a single stick I found on the shore - no problems. Not worth it to get your hiking poles just for fording.

Lone Wolf
03-07-2012, 10:30
If you haven't used them on a hike into Franklin, then you probably just don't need them at all.



yep........

Spokes
03-07-2012, 10:35
As for fording using a stick is just as helpful if not more so, I forded the Kennebec with a single stick I found on the shore - no problems.....


When I look for sticks they always end up being on the other side. :-)

Pedaling Fool
03-07-2012, 10:36
when i look for sticks they always end up being on the other side.......
:d.................:)

Tenderheart
03-07-2012, 14:22
I stopped using trekking poles several years ago.

Sounds to me like you've already learned that you don't really need poles. My best friend in the army was from Shawnee Mission, KS.

d.o.c
03-07-2012, 14:42
you should rock poles the whole way.. you will be glad you did.

HiKen2011
03-07-2012, 15:21
I need one for my shelter, comes in handy other places though.

Mike2012
03-07-2012, 16:38
dagnabbit I bought poles cause everyone said I'd want them. Now they're unpackaged and I'm gonna look like a total dork click clackin my whole way up the AT.

Deadeye
03-07-2012, 16:42
I don't get it... you hiked the AT in 1999 and now you're wondering if you need poles? I'm not trying to be smarta$$ here, but it seems you have sufficient experience to make that determination for yourself!

yogi
03-07-2012, 17:11
Deadeye - Yep, I hiked the AT in 1999 and used poles then. I used them on the PCT in 2001, 2002, 2003. I used them for part of the CDT in 2004, then sent them home. I did not use them on the PCT in 2007 or the CT in 2010. I remembered the AT having more steep downhills, so I thought I might want them this year. I don't. However, I do remember some fords in Maine, and I was thinking I might want them back for that. I was asking for advice from current AT hikers. 1999 was 13 years ago, and I honestly don't remember specifics.

Montana AT05
03-07-2012, 18:36
Deadeye - Yep, I hiked the AT in 1999 and used poles then. I used them on the PCT in 2001, 2002, 2003. I used them for part of the CDT in 2004, then sent them home. I did not use them on the PCT in 2007 or the CT in 2010. I remembered the AT having more steep downhills, so I thought I might want them this year. I don't. However, I do remember some fords in Maine, and I was thinking I might want them back for that. I was asking for advice from current AT hikers. 1999 was 13 years ago, and I honestly don't remember specifics.

Hello Yogi, met you at Campo in 2008, you kindly drove me and a fellow hiker (now triple crowner, Brit) back to our start location after the kick-off. My how time flies.

When I thru hiked the AT (2005) it was the first time I had ever used poles, and I quickly relied on the poles daily and couldn't have imagined not hiking the AT with them..they saved me from falls so many times. However, now that I carry a lighter and more compact pack (as I assume you do given your many thru hikes) I find I don't need poles at all, even on the AT, a trail to which I keep returning. I would consider not using them at all if I were you. As others have said, the incredibly steep and rocky terrain is often best navigated hand over hand, and carrying a light pack makes that much easier to do.

I also find I walk faster without poles (not that it's a race..unless you count racing to a shelter when storm clouds approach!).

If you gotten rid of you poles already, consider keeping it that way.

Are you thru hiking the AT again? If so, have a GREAT time, I wish was as well.

Mike2012
03-07-2012, 23:37
yep........

pole hater? Do you hate them, their use and existence?

yogi
03-08-2012, 08:48
Thanks everyone for your advice!

moldy
03-08-2012, 08:59
You will never make the cover photo of "Backpacker Magazine" without poles.

Lone Wolf
03-08-2012, 09:36
pole hater? Do you hate them, their use and existence?

no. just don't see a need for them. i've been walkin' fine without them for over 50 years

golden eagle
03-08-2012, 13:04
Poles are crutches for the weak minded who have been tricked into thinking they are necessary.

ScottP
03-08-2012, 13:09
I don't use poles anymore. waste of energy.

brian039
03-08-2012, 17:10
Since no one has actually answered your question yet...I'm 95% sure that you would want to get your poles at Andover because the first ford that I can remember was in Sawyer Notch. There may be one before that but I don't think there is.

Deadeye
03-08-2012, 18:41
Deadeye - Yep, I hiked the AT in 1999 and used poles then. I used them on the PCT in 2001, 2002, 2003. I used them for part of the CDT in 2004, then sent them home. I did not use them on the PCT in 2007 or the CT in 2010. I remembered the AT having more steep downhills, so I thought I might want them this year. I don't. However, I do remember some fords in Maine, and I was thinking I might want them back for that. I was asking for advice from current AT hikers. 1999 was 13 years ago, and I honestly don't remember specifics.

I can understand that... I don't remember much from 13 days ago.

ScottP
03-08-2012, 21:31
I remember meeting you up in Washington on the PCT in 07 during those few days of cold, nasty rain. Snoq pass, I think. Hermes here. What's up? I live kinda the trail in the Catawba area (homeplace, dragon's tooth, Mcaffee's, etc.) (20 miles or so) now. Send me a PM if you need anything when you pass through or want to meet up at the Homeplace.

You can probably leave the poles at home. it's not the PCT. The fords are very easy in comparison. Slow moving and not deep unless something odd happens with the weather. If you want the poles for the downhills that's another story. Lots of the very south of the AT has been re-built with switchbacks, so it's not as steep as it was in 99. I don't think the same thing is true in the north, but when it gets gnarly there I'd rather have a hand free than a pole.

have fun out there

QiWiz
03-09-2012, 14:28
Deadeye - Yep, I hiked the AT in 1999 and used poles then. I used them on the PCT in 2001, 2002, 2003. I used them for part of the CDT in 2004, then sent them home. I did not use them on the PCT in 2007 or the CT in 2010. I remembered the AT having more steep downhills, so I thought I might want them this year. I don't. However, I do remember some fords in Maine, and I was thinking I might want them back for that. I was asking for advice from current AT hikers. 1999 was 13 years ago, and I honestly don't remember specifics.

If you are only worried about the fords, you can probably do fine with a found stick you get withing a short distance of the ford. Poles will take some of the stress off knees on downhills, but you are the best judge of whether that benefit is worth the hassle. I find that I carry poles in my hand unless I need them for a downhill, stream crossing, or really steep uphill. The Gossamer Gear LT poles I prefer are so light I hardly notice them, and hence I don't mind the carry. Your opinion may vary ; )

QiWiz
03-09-2012, 14:30
Poles are crutches for the weak minded who have been tricked into thinking they are necessary.

Crutches are for the sore-legged who have been injured because they did not use hiking poles because they thought they were not necessary.

SCRUB HIKER
03-09-2012, 16:00
Before this thread descends to sh-t, I'll make an argument for why you would and wouldn't want them in the Whites and Maine (I didn't have them):

Wouldn't need: as mentioned, the trail is often so steep and rocky that you need your hands for ascending and descending both. You'll spend a lot of time with the poles strapped to your pack, or chucking them 50 feet down the trail while you pick your way down some rock face. And as for fords, I always found a stick or borrowed one of my buddies' poles if they were around. If you know that a ford is coming up, you can start looking early instead of relying on whatever's lying around right beside the river.

Would need: there are still plenty of ups and downs in NH/Maine that are long and steep and don't require the hand-over-hand stuff. I went without poles and my knees were seriously sore by the time I got to Carter Notch Hut (i.e. towards the end of the Whites), and that was the only time that my knees hurt on the whole trip (I was 23, obviously the older you are the worse it would be). It was the one time on trail that I thought to myself that poles might have been nice, because I felt like years were being taken off of my knees' lifespan every time I did one of those huge descents.