Trekking poles with tarps

[Tendertoe]

2 words - Jerry Chair

Beware - I shattered the cork handle of one of my Komperdell's by pounding it in with a rock.

I now dig a hole, place the tip in the ground, cover and push the whole pole in a little further. This gets the tip far into the ground and makes a solid back for your chair without pounding the pole like a huge nail and risking damaging the cork handle.

[Pro Vagabond]

finally went out and purchased a pair for Christmas. Especially love them hiking in the snow or muddy conditions. Also love the porch mode of my set up.

[WV]

+ 1 on the video here. I bought a copy from REI when I was contemplating getting poles. I have since seen it broken up into segments on YouTube, but you'd need to figure out which videos are the right ones. It's simpler and less time-consuming to spend 15 bucks for the video (and, frankly, more honest, too. )

[Dave41079]

2 words - Jerry Chair

Beware - I shattered the cork handle of one of my Komperdell's by pounding it in with a rock.

I now dig a hole, place the tip in the ground, cover and push the whole pole in a little further. This gets the tip far into the ground and makes a solid back for your chair without pounding the pole like a huge nail and risking damaging the cork handle.

This post alone was worth this whole thread. In my quest to pack lighter I had given up my thermarest chair sleeve for my pad, and was kind of sad about that. I can't wait to try this out. I think with a 3/4-full length CCF pad and some cord, I could make something work. Keep the great ideas coming everyone!

[Roadrunnr72]

A few years ago, I was on a hike up Old Rag Mtn. with the Boy Scouts. One of the scouts had 1 hiking pole and was just kind of swinging it and tripping over it. My knees started killing me and asked him if I could borrow his. It made a HUGH difference. My son told my mom about it and she got me a set for my B-day. I won't go on a long hike without them. You also asked "what else can you use them for". Well if you get a slow scout you can use them to poke and prod the scout up the hill.

[JohnSawyer]

"what else can you use them for". Well if you get a slow scout you can use them to poke and prod the scout up the hill.

So, are there electrified versions for better, um... Encouragement?

I had a set I got cheap, but they were really really heavy (12oz ea) A friend just gave me some 120cm ski poles and I'm surprised how light they are.

I guess you can't tie them to your pack if you don't want to use them...

[Scottybdiving]

I like to use them to set up the cantina for happy hour when it's raining. I prefer handles up.

[titanium_hiker]

re handles up/down: My handles are sloped on the top, which makes them lousy for putting on the ground. However, I recently lashed the two together for better height and found that the spike bit is great for slipping into the d-ring for easy tarp attaching, but it's also good for skewering the pole into the ground a bit so it don't move!

TH

[CajunHiker]

I keep a couple of velcro ties on both of my poles, to secure the two poles together when needed. The poles are also a good place to keep a length of electrical or duct tape.
I use to always carry a vine-twisted hiking staff, but now carry poles in case I need to go2ground. I've also use a pole to elevate a tree strap higher than my reach when the tree spread deems it neccessary.

[Buffalo Skipper]

I have had a pair of "cheap" Sojourns, which have served me well for 3 years now. One broke and I bought a replacement (they are sold as singles from Academy).

However, after checking out my sister's Lekis, I decided I wanted something better than what I had. I ended up with a set of Black Diamond Ergo Corks for Christmas. I used them for a trek down Stone Mountain last week. They worked very nice, being a 1/2 pound lighter than my Sojourns, which I have now passed down to my son.

Here is a link to a site chock full of information on properly using and adjusting hiking poles. http://www.adventurebuddies.net/

Waddy, that is a great site, loaded with very good information. Thanks for the info.

Like many others, I will use them to assist in poling out my tarp in a variety of ways.

SmokeBait, thanks for posting the pic. I will be looking into doing that with a tarp soon.