Trekking poles have definite benefits. They help reduce the load on your knee joints and leg muscles, help you balance heavy loads and act as an extra point of balance when hiking in uneven terrain, going down a steep hill or crossing moving water. You can also use trekking poles to probe water or mud depth. But poles can present potential problems, too, especially if you don’t know how to use them correctly.
Use Telescoping Poles
Trekking poles are a real boon, until you need your hands free to do something else, or find yourself in brushy terrain where the poles are a tangle-prone nuisance. If you invest in telescoping poles, you’ll be able to telescope them down and attach them to the outside of your pack, keeping the poles out of the way and leaving your hands free.
Adjust
Use the telescope poles’ adjustability to your advantage when going up, down or traversing hills. For use on flat ground, your elbow should be bent at a 90-degree angle when you hold the pole’s handle, with the pole’s tip on the ground. Shorten the poles if you’re going uphill; lengthen them for heading downhill. Adjust the uphill pole shorter, and the downhill pole longer, if you’re sidehilling.
Rubber Caps
Hold onto the rubber caps that came with your trekking poles. They’re meant to keep the poles’ metal tips from scratching or gouging delicate terrain. You can also cap the poles’ tips to keep them from scratching you, or your vehicle, during transport.
Shocks
Some trekking poles come with shock absorbers to help reduce jarring when the poles support a lot of your weight, such as walking down a hill. You can turn this feature off, usually by pressing down on, then twisting the pole, when walking uphill or on flat ground.
Repair Kit
Spool some duct tape around your trekking poles, near the handles and away from the adjustment mechanism, so that you have the tape ready to hand if you ever need it for emergency repairs.
Shelter
Your trekking poles double as survival tools, forming the basis of a planned-for shelter, like the single support pole in a pyramid-style tent or tarp, or the start of an improvised emergency shelter, like the ridge pole for a lean-to, at need.
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