Hiking Sticks

I never used to think hiking sticks were worth dragging along with me on a trip.  I figured they were just something to have to hold onto and that it would be forever getting tangled up in the brush and just generally be a nuisance to carry.  I've since changed my tune.

On an exploration of a wetland area a few years ago, I found the perfect, beaver-chewed stick.  It was the perfect length, just the right diameter for my hand, had some thin bark still on it and was sort of bumpy, making it easy to hold onto without getting slippery.  I decided to try using it, and I've never left it at home since. I keep it in my car so it's always there when I get to a trailhead or wherever I'm going to be exploring.

I've used it to climb up and down steep banks, drape my jacket over when I got too warm, turn over logs or leaves while looking for morel mushrooms, and reach out to a fellow hiker who needed something to hold onto to get up a slippery hill after a rain.  I have measuring marks carved on it so I can measure stuff outdoors, and paracord wrapped around it in case I need that to string up a tarp or replace a bootlace.  You can wrap fishing line around a hiking stick and put a hook or two under the line to secure it, too, if you want.  I've used mine for a base for my camera to hold it steady while taking a picture and to help me cross streams. 

Yes, my mind's been changed about my stick, and others, seeing me using mine, have immediately had to acquire their own (I watched them watching me and then start looking around for their own stick in the woods).