Ralph Carlson Blog

Tools are invaluable. They augment skills and physical ability. They make it possible to do things that are impossible, or at least difficult to do without them. Finding and selecting tools, however, is not always easy. Sometimes I completely miss the value of a tool or become confused about why I need it and what it will do for me. That is a big problem because I need all the help I can find. An example is one of my Christmas gifts – a set of hiking poles.

It started simply when my wife asked what I wanted for Christmas. I asked her for a hiking stick and what I was thinking about was a long wooden pole or staff to provide stability while hiking. She turned the tables on me when she asked me to show her where to get one. I had seen them at a store specializing in walking shoes and equipment but had never really looked at them seriously. When I researched, I found that yes, there are hiking poles like I was imagining but there were also hiking sticks in pairs that you use like ski poles. Since these were lightweight and collapsible when compared to the bulky, heavy wood stakes, I decided that I would ask for a pair of the sticks.

Our Christmas vacation provided the opportunity to test the sticks on the network of trails near our vacation home. My first time out was on a trail along the coastal bluffs. I didn’t think they would make much difference and I felt very conspicuous and somewhat foolish with my two hiking sticks, particularly since nobody else on the trail was using even a cane. I felt like some kind of spidery quadruped but gradually it became more natural to work the sticks as I hiked. They worked wonderfully to maintain stability as I traveled the sometimes irregular trail and helped me to keep a steady pace. When I returned to the house some two hours later, it was apparent that there was more to my new tools that I had anticipated. I was definitely feeling a workout of my arms and chest. It seemed that my new sticks had turned hiking into a full body exercise program, something I never anticipated.

Continued in Part 2 tomorrow.

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