Walking Poles and Sticks - Do They Help?

Spend this vacation hiking and relaxing in pure nature. Elk Lake Resort offers a variety of hiking options and terrain. Take a morning stroll along the shore of Elk Lake as you watch for bird life and big game. Enjoy the mottled sunshine as you hike through the timber along Hidden Lake on a summer afternoon scanning the cliffs for Falcons and the lake's surface for Grebes. Hike into an alpine setting as you traverse the trail to Lillian and Blair lake in the Centennial Mountains. Or, just stroll up the draw behind the lodge for a relaxing end to a wonderful day. Your toughest decision - do I take along a walking stick or not? Here's some advice from Steve Dempster to help you decide.

When out walking and hiking, many people use walking sticks and poles or sticks. But are they just a fashion fad? Here are my observations on them. . .

The big difference between walking or hiking in rural areas or out in the wilderness is the terrain underfoot. Obvious? Yes, but then people sometimes overlook the obvious. Walking across even the kind of terrain you might come across in in my part of the world - the Heart of England - it soon become apparent that what appears to be a smooth, grassy field turns out to be rough and lumpy. Good boots will help support you ankles, but how about your balance? That's where walking poles and sticks come in.

Consider this: why do four-legged animals - dogs, horses, goats, etc. - seldom lose their footing to the extent they fall over? The answer is simple: they have four 'points of balance'. Four compared to our two. So it seems logical that, if we had four points of balance we would be more stable when crossing uneven ground. Now I'm not suggesting for a minute we should go on all fours and scuttle, crab-fashion, whenever we're crossing rough patches! However, it seems obvious that four legs are better than two for balance - so how do we achieve this?

The answer is simple: walking poles or sticks. The modern take on this is to use two ski-type poles (the early models were simply ski poles with the 'saucer' removed). The purpose-made type can be adjusted for length to suit the user and are very light. As for myself, I use an ash walking staff that I've had for years - I like to keep one hand free and you can't pin your walking badges to metal poles! Even this 'three-legged' stance improves my security of balance immensely, and I never go walking without it.

There's another benefit and it's not just for people who have attained 'a certain age'. Using walking poles takes a lot of strain off your knees - about 20% is the usual estimate - and ski guides have been using them for years for exactly this purpose. Knees take a dreadful pummeling when you're skiing and the ski guides - who do it all day long - figured out long ago that taking weight off your knees when walking was a good thing

There's a growing popularity, too, for Nordic Walking. Although beyond the scope of this article, it basically involves 'power walking' using walking poles to assist - and you can do it anywhere! It's reckoned to be a marvelous all-body exercise.

In summary, I would recommend that if you do even a small amount of walking that's going to take you off the beaten track, you invest in a couple of good poles - or even a good ash staff!