[at-l] okay, someone...

[ellen at clinic.net (Bob C.)]

I never used hiking poles until 1991 when I walked the AT in Maine from Grafton
Notch to Katahdin with a clumsy 9-year-old. He kept falling until I found some
alder saplings that had been cut at the foot of Dunn Notch Falls (a highly
recommended side trail) by a trail maintainer.

My grandson wouldn't use a pole unless I did, so I fashioned two poles, one for
him and one for me. Aside from keeping him on his feet, our poles helped wile
away the time on July evenings as we competed with carving decorations. My alder
pole proved so habit forming and useful that I carried it on my walk home from
Georgia two years later.

During the many raging internet pole debates, I finally weighed it on my trusty
postal scale. It came in at 9.2 ounces, equipped with a soft rubber crutch tip,
which incidentally is significantly less slippery and amazingly less noisy on
rocks than the carbon tips on Lekis that I've experimented with.

I use it all the time to brace myself when descending/traversing steep areas.

That original pole remains sturdy and unbroken and has never needed repairs. But
it has so many memories associated with it that I retired it a couple of years
ago and cut myself a couple of replacements. One weighs 7 ounces and shows no
sign of breaking.

But my favorite is a 10 ounce version with a 1/4-20 screw epoxyied into the top
for use as a monopod. When not used as a photography aid, the pole is topped
with a Komperdell cork top and strap ($12) from the Komperdell internet site. If
anyone is interested in how to turn a walking stick into a monopod with a
Komperdell strap and compass, let me know and I'll try to explain again.

When scouting new trails on a land trust preserve, located two miles down the
road from my house, this pole has enough heft to break off dead branches up to
about an inch in diameter from pine and spruce trees that block my way. I just
grab one end of the pole and swing it like an ax. The pole is also useful for
pitching small logs out of the footpath without having to bend down.

Though some of us think sharp-pointed hiking poles result in erosion of trails,
all I'm suggesting in this post is that what is new and faddish in hiking
circles is not necessarily the best.

Weary