One Pole or Two?

imported
#1

While almost everybody seems to love their lightweight hiking poles, the question remains: which is better, one or two?

Most folks seem to go with two, yet my gut tells me that it’d still be better to have one hand free (swatting bugs, investigating interesting finds, etc.)

What are your thoughts??

Thanks!

Dingo

#2

I would highly recommend 2 poles. While hiking on the AT, they hardly ever get in the way. There are very few ladders/cliffs where it is better to use your hands. Moreover, I am no doctor, but I can imagine walking 2000+ miles with an uneven gait can do some serious damage to your body. Walking the AT with an even gait can do serious damage to your body, but I think less so. Most polls have straps around the wrist. It is easy to climb, swat, investigate, etc by just letting the poll hang. I hiked from Katahdin to Gorham, NH without polls. I fell every day, suffered a pretty serious ankle turn, and could hardly deal with the pressure on my knees. I picked up a pair of polls in Gorham, and barely stopped the rest of the way. The benefits were magnificent. I did wipe out at the Pen Mar line, but only because I’m an idiot. Who put that chain there any way?

Grimace

#3

I’m not a doctor either, but after discussing this with someone that’s a physical therapist(remember this is second hand), one hiking pole gives you very little advantage while 2 hiking poles gives you x% advantage (I think it was 30% but don’t remember. With 2 poles you can really use your arms to take a load off your feet, both in helping to go up hill, as well as a easing the downhill punishment on your knees (now I liked to almost run downhills but most people find them punishing to the knees. You can also use the poles in your normal walking gait to help ‘push’ you along as if you were cross-country skiing. I also have found them useful for balance when crossing rocky areas or streams.
With the poles, the only time I really feel was a face-plant in Maryland in a section of the trail that had been rerouted through by using a hedgehog to trim all the brush.Other than that they saved me a number of times from falls.

merryhiker

#4

Before anyone else says it. That should be ‘poles’ not ‘piles’. I guess I need to proofread, spellcheck isn’'t good enough.

merryhiker

#5

I’m a minimalist, but two poles is the way to go for most folks.

Colter

#6

I actually thought the piles was pretty funny. I think that the advantage that you get from the trekking poles needs to be from two. I used a hiking pole for years, but it was the combination of two poles that made all the difference for me. Sue/HH

HammockHanger

#7

I actually thought the piles was pretty funny. I think that the advantage that you get from the trekking poles needs to be from two. I used a hiking pole for years, but it was the combination of two poles that made all the difference for me. Sue/HH

HammockHanger