Why I decided to use a hiking stick, or as some people call it, a trekking pole.
In the summer of 2006, my friend Jackie and I said we needed to start hiking on a regular basis so we decided on one hike per month. It took a while to get his plan off the ground but by November, we were ready. Our first hike was an easy one - Tonto Natural Bridge in Arizona. Everything was great for the first thirty feet or so, then the trail started a steep decent and I had images of sliding down instead of walking. Jackie took this opportunity to remember she had a trekking pole at home and she’d forgotten to bring it. Personally, that was the best news I’d heard all day. I thought it would be embarrassing to be hiking with someone carrying a stick. So, we slipped and slid down the trail, looked at the beautiful scenery then struggled back up the trail.
A month later we hit the Westfork trail a few miles north of Sedona. The temperature was in the low 40’s (which is pretty darn cold for a desert dweller) and I was delighted to find the river was frozen over in places. While it was exciting to see, it was a bit on the slippery side when crossing. Once again, Jackie brought up the missing trekking pole. I commented that I wouldn’t want to be carrying anything extra and she assured me that if I tried it, I’d like it. I was equally sure I would not. However, after watching her lose her balance and almost end up in the river, I did a quick search of the forest and produced a very nice, sturdy branch - Instant trekking pole. This poor stick ended up coming with us on the next hike in January, the Pine Trail northwest of Payson. This time there was fresh snow on the trail and I found myself half-heartedly looking for my own stick. Unfortunately, we were in a pine forest this time and dead, frozen pine tree branches are surprisingly brittle. Once again, I slipped and slid my way down the trail, but now I was thinking how handy a trekking pole would be.
The following month we were headed for Parsons Trail in Sycamore Canyon and we stopped at a large gift shop. Just inside the door was a stand full of handmade wooden trekking poles, and they were inexpensive. We’d looked at them once before and decided against it, but now we both found ourselves buying one.
Parsons Trail turned out to be quite easy and I found little use for my new acquisition. While Jackie walked in front of me, happy with her stick, I was doing everything with mine other than using it properly. While I walked, I balanced it on the end of my fingers, twirled it like a big baton, dragged it behind me until the noise got on my nerves and gave serious thought to leaving it behind.
My trekking pole has now accompanied me on five hikes and I don’t plan to ever go hiking without it again. It’s a lot easier to walk down steep trails, cross streams and check the speed of river currents before I cross. I no longer play with my trekking pole and I consider it an important piece of my hiking equipment.Okay, so I will admit that on our last hike I dragged it behind me in the sand so it looked like a snake trail, but that was just some harmless fun. It’s not like I expected to scare the kids in the group behind us…..
