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Old 09-27-22, 01:26 PM
  #107  
phughes
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
I was on a backpacking trip a couple weeks ago. I used to be a one-trekking-pole person, but a year ago on that trail in some tricky footing, I decided this year to bring two poles. I am not sure if it was the two poles this year, but I had almost no knee problems. I suspect that the places where I had to step up or down really high were less stress on my knees when I could use two poles to take more weight off than if I had used only one pole like I used in the past.

That said, the other trails I have hiked in the past that were not as rough, I would again use one pole if I hiked on those trails again.

In two weeks on that trail, I only saw one person backpacking with no poles. I did see one person through hiking with one pole, but she was packed very light, she was the only one I saw on the trail that used a bivy instead of a tent. There might have been other bivy users that I was not aware of, she camped at the site I was at so I saw her bivy.
Yes, two poles would help save the knees. I will graduate to using both soon. They really do help, especially if you do any steep grades.
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