I've decided I need a hiking stick.

I figure it'll help a lot with drive by caches. There are some of the skirt lifters that I cant quite reach without getting out of the car. So i figure with a stick, I can stick it out the window and increase my reach by at least 5 feet.

But seriously, for going up and down hills, I do know the value of a stick. However, I'm curious to hear whether folks prefer a traditional wooden stick or one of the nifty high tech fold up jobbies?

Any pro's and con's?

Not to disrupt the topic here, but the April GGA meeting will have this subject. See the notice Upcoming GGA Event Cache Meeting Dates

I prefer the type I use currently which is just an old Ski pole. It'll grip both mud and rock. I've been on some looooong uphill runs where I actually used two of them, which really saved my lower back.

Different strokes....er different poles for different folks.

I have both types, a wooden pole made from a long broom handle and an expensive extending aluminum pole. I use the extending pole on trips where I need to pack it, but otherwise usually use the wooden stick. I like the home-made wooden stick because:

1. it is stronger,
2. if I leave it somewhere I just make another one, instead of maybe hiking 2 miles back to get it.

Besides being compact, the ability to adjust the length of the aluminum pole comes in handy now and then.

I have three hiking sticks.

The one I use most of the time is a stick that I took from a beaver dam, the beavers did a good job of getting it ready, they cut it to a length I like, stripped the bark off it, and then water treated it. While I would hate to lose it, at least it was free.

Then I have a Wal-Mart special $10 metal pole. It collapses to a short a length which can be fastened to a back pack if in an area that hiking sticks are more in way than help. Of course mine doesn't collapse as far as it use to, since I bent it while using it to stop sis Slayerette and myself from falling off the ridge at Kache Visible on Mountain.

A nice wooden one I got to put hiking medallions on. I don't take it into to the woods for fear of losing it.

I have the metal pole variety like Allen, which I won at a Wanna Go event. I also have a nice hand-made, personalized one that I too put hiking stick medallions on from the state parks I have cached in/visited. Speaking of which, I need to see if Oak Mtn State Park in AL makes a hiking stick medallion since I recently cached there

We have one of those Walmart metal poles also, we won at an event.

We also have a nice custom one we won from El Diablo. I have several medallion that Jason wants to put on there but I do not want to mark up its beauty. lol

We also have a broom handle and some sticks we found while on the trail that are nice.

I just realized I didn't mention why I prefer to hike with a hiking stick.

1 On easy to moderate trails, using a stick shifts some of the effort off my leg muscles and to my arm muscles making the hiking a little easier. On long distance hikes they say it is best to have two. I use just one, but if I was going to do something like hike for multiple days on the AT, I would get two metal sticks.
2 On steep trails going both up and down using a stick is really helpful.
3 On using rocks or low logs to cross a shallow stream the stick can be used to keep balance by putting it in the stream.
4 While wadding in deep water, the stick can be used to feel the bottom for safe places to put my feet. I have done this on at least one geocache.
5 And of course it is useful for probing for geocache boxes.

I did mention the advantages of the metal sticks. But as for why I prefer the wooden stick most of the time. As I mentioned a stick is useful on steep trails. Both metal and wood work fairly well, if the trail isn't wet and slick. But a couple of times with the metal one, I started slipping on a slick fairly steep part of the trail, I planted the metal pole and held tight, I didn't fall but one section of the pole bent. I straighten it the best I could and went on. This has happened a couple of times with it. But in the same type of situation, when I had the wooden stick, it didn't bend or break. I just planted it hard and held on.

Thanks for all the feedback.

I'm leaning toward one of each. I've always been a believer in different tools for different tasks, and I can see different types of hikes will favor one over the other.

A metal one is light enough and small enough to carry when you only need it for a very short portion of the overall hike. Where at times it may be just annoying to have to keep up with a wooden one for 90% of the hike just to have it for the 10% that you need it. Though I think I prefer it overall as I think a wooden one is probably much more "fat cacher" friendly.

I have a pair of the Leki spring-loaded poles from REI, which I bought 10 years ago. A big advantage is the "cushion" you get from the springs on descents (great if your knees don't work as well as they used to). The other advantage of the telescoping poles is that you can shorten them for ascents and lenghten for descents.

quote:

Originally posted by RickyLacy:
at times it may be just annoying to have to keep up with a wooden one for 90% of the hike just to have it for the 10% that you need it.

You have it backwards. The stick is useful for 90% of the time, because it shifts some of the effort from legs to arms. It is times when you go off trail and have to crawl around rocks like on currahee mountain hunting Band of Brothers, or working around bushes and undergrowth on the last stage or Starhopping, or last 150 ft of Kache Visible on the Mountain that a stick can be more in the way than help.

On a geocache hunt where the cache is either close to trail, or the off trail area is open without a lot of undergrowth the stick is alway useful.

I currently have four hiking/walking sticks. I pick one according to the type of hike, event or just my mood. I don't have any store bought one's, tho I don't disapprove of them. I just like makin' my own. I keep one in the truck all the time, it's actually a fiberglass golf club shaft...a 3 wood, the head flew off while playing one day. It's light weight, strong, has a comfy grip and works well for light hiking and more urban type park caches. I have my favorite wooden one that I use for more aggressive hikes. A new bamboo hiking stick I just cut down that is drying out to lighten its weight. And one retired hiking stick that I bring just for fun and to lean on for Caching Events. Unless it’s a drive-by type geocache I always use my hiking stick. While in Texas caching with my brother, my hiking stick enabled me to grab a cool trail cache that was being protected by a rather large Water Moccasin that I persuaded to move away from the container with my hiking stick.

quote:

Originally posted by Hotlanta:
I currently have four hiking/walking sticks.

Can we look forward to see them at the: GGA - April 2007 Meeting & Earth Day Event?
.

Like many others, I have two sticks. One is the $19.99 "swiss" metal collapsable stick, the other is my wooden Ms. Sticks..

I've discovered that for camping, I prefer the metal one - it's lighter, and I can clip it to my backpack. For general hiking, I like the wooden one.

Of course I'll be bringing both to the April meeting..

quote:

Originally posted by AllenLacy:
You have it backwards. The stick is useful for 90% of the time, because it shifts some of the effort from legs to arms. It is times when you go off trail and have to crawl around rocks like on currahee mountain hunting Band of Brothers, or working around bushes and undergrowth on the last stage or Starhopping, or last 150 ft of Kache Visible on the Mountain that a stick can be more in the way than help.

On a geocache hunt where the cache is either close to trail, or the off trail area is open without a lot of undergrowth the stick is alway useful.

Yep, I agree. Once you have carried a stick for a while you don't want to be without it ... just like American Express. You never know when you will lose your balance and the stick can save you from a tumble. Even with my disposible broom handle sticks I put a loop of cord on the handle end. That serves to help keep the stick from getting away, makes it easier to climb, and if you need to use that hand, you can just let the stick dangle on your wrist. The loop is a must.

I use this, which I like a lot. It's also a monopod.

http://www.leki.com/html/trek_natlgeo_2089.asp

Here are some pix's of my hikin' sticks and GeoRock'n with his hikin' stick. I'm sorry to say we will not be able to attend the GGA April meeting to show 'em off.

Nice Sticks fella. That one on the left had a lot of.....character. Thanks for sharing those nicely decorated ones.

I’ve been referred to as a bit of a ‘character’ myself. The crooked hikin’ stick on the left is actually one of the first natural one’s I made. It’s made of Mountain Laurel that I found along the Pine Mountain Trail back in ’91 or ’92. I used it on a lot of hikin’ trips during both of my boys scouting adventures. My oldest is 23 now and youngest; GeoRock’n is 14 and still in Scouts. I hung it up, literally, when I made a new lighter stick carved from a 2X2 white pine board about 4 years ago. The new stick got broken while geocaching in Cochran Mill Park finishing up the Lewis and Clark Series last year. Broken stick My daily-use stick I’m using now is made of well dried popular that has a lot of history, it was cut from the top of GeoRockn’s Cub Scout Den’s flag pole which was retired and just left to die in the corner of my garage. The bamboo one is just for fun, it’s still drying out which is why it still has a green color to it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Hotlanta,