YUR a trekking poles…

Many months ago, I was asked how I felt about the use of trekking poles out on the trail… I was on the fence for a long time but I’ve finally fallen to a side. I am for them! I recently had a disastrous wrong turn down a hellacious bushwhacking descent an adventure that really tweaked my knee and has hindered my hiking quite a bit :\ though, with a regiment of calisthenics, I have been able to slowly bounce back and to aid in this/help prevent future trail torture, I scooped up a pair of trekking poles from theClymb for only $5! haha

When window-shopping around for said poles, I had a few criteria that these poles met:

  • Cork hand grips: I felt that cork would be the optimal grip for moisture and feel. I wrapped my hand around a few different types of grip at REI and I noticed a few rubber grips would leave a black residue on my >:\
  • Extended grip: this allows for choking up for particularly steep spots, which was even cooler with these as it was also cork.
  • Collapsible: Kind of a “No Doi” there, but for pack-ability etc…
  • Weight: While this wasn’t a huge concern for me, but I definitely stayed away from the poles made of lead :P


I field tested these bad Larrys on a quick little jaunt on a great trail nearby the apartment called the Craggy Gardens. It’s a pretty sweet trail, only about a mile long but it has a slight pitch up and down with some rocky spots and log hops that were great to test how these thing would hopefully help out the ol bum knee and they worked great!

I packed only about 10 lbs as to not over do it if my knee should start cussing me out but at the end of it all I was sold! They acted almost like a hand rail and really softened the steps down. I look forward to getting out on longer trails with my usual weighted pack and having that extra reassurance of babying the knee and being able to get back outside a lot sooner!

Cheers 

 
Just for funsies, a shot of the summit of the Craggy Gardens 

3 Notes/ Hide

  1. goyourownpace said: I just recently started to use these bad boys, also. I love them. I have no knee problems or anything, but I could definitely tell a difference. They take a lot or pressure off the knees (especially going down a mountain).
  2. ikneaddough reblogged this from campfiresmell and added:
    I love trekking poles with all my heart
  3. campfiresmell posted this