[at-l] Re: Hiking Poles - which and why?

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 01:19 AM 3/13/2005 -0500, Leslie Booher wrote:
>???
>Most commercial wooden poles I've seen are too heavy.
>
>
>What I have done before when I left my pole home is to get a hoe handle 
>from a garden shop.  They're strong, light-weight, and the shop will cut 
>it to any length you want.  After I'd used it the first time, David 
>drilled a hole near the top and put a leather strap through it, and I 
>added a crutch tip.  He used it several times, and now it decorates my 
>elephant's leg.
>
>OK, it's not REALLY an elephant's leg, but all the old hunter adventurers 
>seemed to have one, so that's what I call the tile flue pipe that I use to 
>hold hiking poles and umbrellas and stuff.
>
>Now, about hiking poles.  With "real" ones, part of the satisfaction was 
>in the swing of the thing.  There was a rhythm to them.  You held them a 
>good way down from the top, and they had a natural swing that helped 
>propel you along.  The ones we use today have lost all that 
>property.  They perform, perhaps, a bit of a different function, but I 
>miss the old rhythm.  Am I alone here, except for Weary?
>
>anklebear

No, you aren't. That's one reason I like a pole with a knob instead of a 
contoured grip. I hold it with my hand over the top of the knob so it can 
pivot in my hand as it swings forward. I also like the staff length wooden 
pole that I hold about 3/4ths of the way from the bottom.