RE: [Philmont]: Trekking Poles?

No, I never left the list. I got enough email suggesting that I stay on
the list.

I have never used the trekking poles, but I use a hiking staff. If I were
to head back to Philmont, I am sure that with my knees and hips I would now
want to "click and clack" my way along the trail. The reports seem to make
them essential for some of us who are less than perfect specimens of human
beings.

So what are the choices if we want to stop the "click and clack" of metal
against the rocky trail of Philmont. If we put an age limit of 50 on all
hikers, then many troops would not be able to allow their scouts to enjoy
the trails. However, that would give all of those healthy troops a better
chance of getting through the registration process. (There is an upside to
over-regulation.)

But if we really want all scouts to experience Philmont once in their life,
we may have to bite the bullet and allow frail men to advise the crew on
the trail. Who cares if I am so noisy that my scouts do not get to see
turkeys anyway. The bulls will still be there in the pasture. We will get
to see at least one animal.

In 1999 we came to a "T" in the trail and spent some time with the map
trying to figure out if we turn right or left. We noticed that one or more
member of the group in front of us was leaving marks with trekking poles,
and they had gone right. We headed in that direction. After about a half
mile, the marks disappeared along with any trace of footprints. We
concluded that they had turned back and gone the other way. We did the
same and latter found that we really should have turned left at the
start. Which one of you guys on this list lead us astray? It had to be
one of you, no one else was using trekking pole in 1999.

Roman Smith

At 08:04 AM 4/5/2005, you wrote:
>I guess I am in the minority here, but the "Click and Clack" of hiking poles
>while going down a quiet scenic trail or path is just too much for me. They
>are very noisy. If you have 4-6 members of your crew using them the crew
>will sound like a drum set coming down the trail.

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Received on Tue Apr 5 14:23:50 2005