over 1000 miles without poles?

[Blue Jay]

Personally, I can't imagine hiking with trekking poles.

Maybe if you've got bad knees or a heavy pack.

Otherwise, I think they're silly.

Now wait just a minute. Poles are very very stylish. People with poles just look cool. They look like real hikers. Without poles you look like you are out for a walk. People are starting to walk around their neighborhoods with poles. Soon videos on MTV will include poles. Ok, you're right, they're silly.

[DavidNH]

Just wait till you are fording those streams in Maine. You will wish you had poles if you don't have them. Poles let you know for starters just how deep the water is.

Yes you can survive withoutem, but they will make your life a whole lot easier.

Davidnh

[Lone Wolf]

Just wait till you are fording those streams in Maine. You will wish you had poles if you don't have them. Poles let you know for starters just how deep the water is.

Yes you can survive withoutem, but they will make your life a whole lot easier.

Davidnh

there's always plenty of sticks on the shores of the streams

[jersey joe]

Sticks work just fine, AND they are disposable. If you leave one at a shelter, no big deal.

[Kerosene]

If you want to keep your hands free then there's certainly no reason to burden yourself with poles. I've found them to be helpful to stabilize me in tricky situations, and I use a pole for my tent, but they can be a pain when you're the trail is level or very rocky. Some people use them to take pressure off their knees (read quads) on the downhill, but it doesn't sound like you need them for that purpose.

[Blissful]

. besides they destroy the beauty of the trail with all those scratches on the rocks.

oh boy, there was thread about that once a while back.

uh...so do hiker's feet. (??) Nothing like the mounds of feet tracking through mud in Vermont or around bog bridges destroying the beauty.

[weary]

This thread is relevant to the one about impact of poles.

I've hiked and camped all my life. I took my first camping trip was when I was 2 years old, on my father’s back.
In the past few years, I have done weeklong sections of AT in NH (Mt.Washington to Hanover), VT, MASS, doing between 10 and 17 miles a day with a heavy backpack (my friend and I carry extra chocolate and other luxury food, such as onions and canned meat when we hike sections of AT to share with thru-hikers). And last summer I trekked in the Condoriri area in Bolivia. So, even though I've never done seriously long trips, I have some experience with hiking and relatively strenuous terrain. But I only used poles once, in Bolivia, to ascend Huayna Potosí.

This summer I am going to hike the AT from VA to Maine. My question is: will I absolutely need the poles? I have no ideological objections to them (provided, of course, people don't drag them long them trail margins). It's just a matter of personal preference. I like my hands to be free. So I was wondering if anybody here has hiked without poles (over a week), and what do you think about it?

thank you for any input,
happy trails,
t.

Poles are a recent phenomenon. I hiked thousands of backpacking miles without a pole, as did all the trail pioneers. I started using a prop in 1991 when the 9-year-old I was hiking with kept falling. I found him a stick to keep him upright, which he wouldn't use unless I used a stick also. I've been using a single hiking stick ever since. Poles are like tobacco. The're both harmful and addictive. Well, harmful to those of us who like to quickly snap photos, scratch, slap mosquitoes, grab trees, kneel to look at flowers....

I say avoid them at all cost. Since I started using a walking stick 17 years ago August, I've gotten grayer, had open heart surgery, grown wobblier on my feet, gained weight, puff more going up hills... How I curse the day I picked up that stick.

Weary

[eric_plano]

Since I started using a walking stick 17 years ago August, I've gotten grayer, had open heart surgery, grown wobblier on my feet, gained weight, puff more going up hills... How I curse the day I picked up that stick.

They should include these possible side-effects on a warning label if you ask me

[Footslogger]

This thread is relevant to the one about impact of poles.


This summer I am going to hike the AT from VA to Maine. My question is: will I absolutely need the poles? I have no ideological objections to them (provided, of course, people don't drag them long them trail margins). It's just a matter of personal preference. I like my hands to be free. So I was wondering if anybody here has hiked without poles (over a week), and what do you think about it?

thank you for any input,
happy trails,
t.

===================================

Jumping in late here ...but just read over your initial post and wanted to comment.

Like you, for the vast majority of my hiking/backpacking as a youngster I too never thought of using any form of trekking pole or even a stick for that matter.

In the late 90's as I began to put my plan together for an AT thru-hike I did some pretty intense training hikes. I observed a lot of other hikers using the trekking poles and thought maybe I should look into them. I read a lot about them, albeit NOT about their impact, environmentally speaking. I finally did decide to try and pair and in 2003 I carried them the entire length of the AT.

Could I have done that hike without them ...absolutely.

Would I want to ...absolutely NOT - in my case, anyway.

I'm not a particularly "hard" sticking hiker so for me the whole "impact issue" is somewhat mute. The reason I am so in favor of them from a hiking standpoint (again ...this just for me) is that they offer additional balance and support on both uphills and downhills and on level ground they help me develop and maintain a sort of cadence.

I ran out of fingers and toes trying to keep track of the number of times the trekking poles kept me from falling. Now for some hikers that is just a lame excuse ...and they might tell you to just GO AHEAD AND FALL. But for me at least the ability to catch myself from falling and/or to lower the physiological impact on my knees is well worth the investment.

But no ...as I said at the outset, you certainly do not NEED trekking poles to hike in that section - or any other section of the AT for that matter.

'Slogger

[Mags]

Some people like them. Some don't. Some find them useful, some find them to be another doo-dad.

Try a pair of cheap ski poles first. You'll be out $10 or less in the worse case.



Despite what others say, there is no "one size fits all" solution to backpacking gear.

(Similar to Weary, I used to have a fine head of wavy black hair when I started backpacking. When I started using ski poles: My hair started vanishing and , my beard started getting patches of grey.... )

[Tanya]

Thank you all for so much input! I like the idea of picking up a stick off the ground if needed.

happy trails,
t.

[oops56]

Yep you forgot not just any stick.Not to short not to long not to small round not to big round no knots.Also make sure its not rotten.If it was me i get a nice green one get off trail so no one can see me cutting that nice young live tree.

[Lyle]

Yep you forgot not just any stick.Not to short not to long not to small round not to big round no knots.Also make sure its not rotten.If it was me i get a nice green one get off trail so no one can see me cutting that nice young live tree.

Keep an eye out for an area that has had recent maintenance/brushing. Should be plenty of green saplings or branches just off the trail, usually downhill from the tread.

[RenoRoamer]

>Poles are a recent phenomenon

Poles (plural) may be, the single hiking staff goes back thousands of years. Great weapon against dogs and other troublesome animals (rabid squirrels, porcupines, perhaps rambunctious deer in the autumn, definitely not advised for skunks), helps with stream crossings, for shaking the grass for snakes, for testing for ice underneath a layer of snow, substitute for an ice ax for providing self-arrest on slopes, for pushing briars out of the way. Backpacking without a stick is like being outdoors without my trusty Stetson hat--I would feel naked.

[mudhead]

Some people like them. Some don't. Some find them useful, some find them to be another doo-dad.

Try a pair of cheap ski poles first. You'll be out $10 or less in the worse case.



Despite what others say, there is no "one size fits all" solution to backpacking gear.

(Similar to Weary, I used to have a fine head of wavy black hair when I started backpacking. When I started using ski poles: My hair started vanishing and , my beard started getting patches of grey.... )

You're old. Older than dirt.









Let me know when those patches of grey fill in with white. Oh, what kind of place does one find $10 ski poles?

[weary]

Keep an eye out for an area that has had recent maintenance/brushing. Should be plenty of green saplings or branches just off the trail, usually downhill from the tread.

That was my downfall. I remember it like it was yesterday. A new blue blaze trail to the foot of Dunn Notch Falls in Western Maine.

[Footslogger]

Adding to my earlier comment ...and by no means a "justification" for carrying trekking poles - - but I do use one as the upright for my tent.

Like those multi-purpose items !!

'Slogger

[Frau]

I have had more mishaps and near misses WITH a hiking stick. Tripping on it, carpal tunnel from carrying it, stick breaking when putting weight on it and nearly poking out my eye, AND the biggy--Nessmuk walking in front of me nearly stabbing me numerous times with his pole.He swears by his, NO WAY for me. To be fair, he started using his (normally only one) after a very serious ankle injury involving screws and plates, AND a total hip surgery.Hands free for me,Frau

[sled dog]

As you know, many stretches in NH require both hands so yes, poles can be a nuisance.
I sectioned northern N.E. throughout my whole life and never used poles unless it was in the winter months. I decided to try them for my thru-hike last year and there is no way I will ever hike without them again. I carried a fairly heavy load most of the way and those poles not only prevented me from falling inumerous times but they absorbed alot of the shock on descents and were often my best friends on long ascents.

Come to think of it (with the exception of being in towns), the only time HIKING that I strapped my poles to my pack was the last day in brutal conditions on Katahdin.

[rafe]

Come to think of it (with the exception of being in towns), the only time HIKING that I strapped my poles to my pack was the last day in brutal conditions on Katahdin.

Hiking down into Lehigh Gap, sobo. Too steep for poles. Need hands.

Poles aren't much benefit on roadwalks or when the trail is flat and smooth (eg. C&O canal.) But that's fairly rare.