[at-l] Need some advice on Walking sticks

[WenchAT03 at comcast.net (Teresa)]

Hi Shelly.  I started my AT hike last year without hiking poles, and never
saw any thruhikers (other than myself) without them.  I'd never used them,
so didn't buy them beforehand.  When I got to Franklin, NC, I bought a pair
of Lekis for about $80.  It only took me a few hours to find some kind of
rhythm and after a day or so of using them I was comfortable.  Now, I will
always hike with them.  As Sly said, they lessen the impact on the knees and
help with balance. They also help with depth perception, testing the depth
of water if/when you have to cross (balance especially here... the rocks are
slippery and wobbly!), fending off dogs or other critters if necessary,
keeping hands elevated so they don't swell while hiking, clearing sticks
from the trail ahead of you (that's how 2003's Flick got his name), poking
the back of the shoe of the hiker in front of you, resting while standing
(leaning on the poles), testing wind speed by letting the poles dangle at
your arms to see how close to parallel they can get to the ground (balance
here too... I didn't realize the wind would be so great I'd have trouble
putting one foot in front of the other), ....   Well, that's all I can think
of.

I would've had a longer hike without my poles.  As it was, I was
considerably slower downhill than uphill or level, especially in the
northern states where it's rockier, but with the poles I could place them on
the step below, testing stablity of that step and distance then use the
poles to ease myself down, instead of jumping and absorbing all the weight
on my knees.

I can't compare effectiveness between hiking sticks and trekking poles
because I've either used nothing or trekking poles.  The pair I used had
rubber grip, anti-shock springs, and were 3-section collapsable.  Poles
cleaned and tips replaced at Trail Days (free service from Leki for ANY
brand pole).

:-)
Windy Wench


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Earthlink" <shellydhale@earthlink.net>


All, I am looking into walking sticks and wanted to hear some thoughts from
those of you who use or don't use them.  I would like to hear different
experiences as well as any recommendations.