From: Johnlebl@aol.com
Date: Thu Dec 12 2002 - 15:34:28 CST
Dear Garry,
Here is my opinion.
<<Do trekking poles work better than a walking staff? Garry Black
Troop 718 >>
I'm an old woods walker. I've always carried a staff or walking stick. I
dig under logs, etc, looking for reptiles---snakes if you would. I always
have carried a walking stick. Most were home made from second growth Hickory
about an inch in diameter and 5 feet long. After drying they get hard adn
stiff as any wood will.
Last sumer I saw Scouts adn Scouters carrying walking sticks that were as big
as fence posts. Why I don't know. If it made them happy, then so be it.
In 1996 in Silverton Colorado I got off the Denver and Rio Grande narrow
gauge with my family to shop around before returning to Durango. Up ahead of
me a young fellow got off, shouldered his pack and grabbed his trekking poles
and took off like he was shot in the butt. I had to run to catch up with him.
That was the first time I'd ever seen them. He told me "I can make 15 miles
with them in the same time it used to take to go 10 miles, but that is not
why I use them."
He went on to say "you don't see many four legged animals fall down, but two
legged ones fall all the time. Falling hurts. It can be dangerous to me. I
hike alone in these mountains". He was spending the enitre summer in the
Colorado mountains backpacking.
As I watched him take off, I thought "one of these days I'm going to try some
of those out"
Four years later when preparing for Philmont I looked into them. I would not
be without trekking poles while backpacking again. I have never liked
carrying a walking stick when backpacking. Just don't like them, but I use
then all the time in the woods when just out strolling along.
I use hiking sticks and trekking poles for two entirely different things. A
hiking stick wouldn't do me a nickles worth of good at Philmont. Trekking
poles did.
As some have put it "it's like having four wheel drive". I agree, the
traction is tremendous. The slippage is non existant. I never fell once,
nor did I even feel like it. They give you a lot of extra stability on rough
trails like the tooth, not to mention the extra puch going uphill adn braking
going down.
That's my two cents worth.
<<Has everyone switched to camelback type hydration packs or are Nalgene
bottles still the best for water?>>
Nalgene are the best water bottles but I'm not so sure drinking from them is
the best way to rehydrate one's self.
I pondered this long and hard, and from experience, I'd advise everyone to
use a hydration bladder of some sort.
The absolute best bite valve is Camelback NAME BRAND. All others eventually
leak or leak more. Camelback DOES NOT LEAK. I can hear the hue adn cry now.
So use the one you like.
Again, sometimes you don't get what you pay for but you never get what you
don't pay for.
I personally use a 3 liter Camleback Unbottle. It's insulated, has a BIG
filler hole and it worked and it did not leak a drop inside my pack where it
stayed really cool even on the HOT DRY Tooth trail. Like having a water
cooler.
I also carried a 1 liter Nalgene bottle for a backup plus a 1 liter platypuss
rolled up. I only used it once on the Tooth Ridge when Shaffers was dry. I
carried 5 liters of water that day adn ony used 4.
What I did was to Polar Pure treat water in the Nalgene adn then pour it into
the Unbottle after the time was up. That way all water in teh bladder was
treated and enough time passed so I never had to wait. My Nalgene bottle
became my water treatment container.
>From my observation, the people that used ONLY bottles gulped water more and
waited past when they needed it.
With a bladder you can sip water as you walk to stay continuously hydreated.
That was a nice thing to do.
Cool, clear water......water.
It just doesn't get any better thjan a bladder. I use mine in my canoe adn
kayak also adn on all bicycle trips.
The only downside is some advisors worry that some Scouts might not drink
enough water from a bladder because they can't see how much they are
consuming. My stance on that is they need more training. There are other
ways to tell besides of saying "show me your empty bottle".
If you need to see that, then hjust say "show me your empty bladder" and see
what kind of chuckle you get.
I just love my Camelback.
John LeBlanc
Eagle Class of 1959
Phirst Phil Ptrek 1959
PhilTrek 2002 630H2 Trek 16
My latest adventure was yesterday,
Today is not over yet!
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