8 Reasons to Use Trekking Poles When Day Hiking

You may think you only need trekking poles when carrying a 20 or 30lb pack, on a backpacking trip. But there are plenty of legit reasons to use your poles when day hiking as well. I’ll share with you some of my personal ones for using mine on my local excursions.

Related: I use the Cascade Mountain Tech Quick Lock, Cork Grip, Aluminum trekking poles. Check out my review of these poles.

Stability

Since I’ve been using my trekking poles for day hiking, at places like Topanga State Park, the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains, and even steep trails like the Mission Point trail in O’Melvany park, I’ve been able to easily catch myself, on those rare occasions where I step on loose gravel and/or powdery dirt, while venturing downhill, and lose my footing.

Of course before I used my poles, I was still fairly agile in catching myself on a slip, and able to quickly maneuver to regain my balance before reaching the point of falling. But on those slips where I had my poles, the amount of effort in re-balancing was notably diminished. And the time to regain my balance was also significantly reduced. Like I was instantaneously in control, by planting my pole (or poles) in the direction I had started falling towards, breaking that trajectory.

My day pack can get heavy too

We tend to want that level of stability trekking poles provide, when we have a giant pack on our back, that has 25 or 30 pounds worth of camping gear. But my Gregory Zulu 30 day pack has no trouble carrying a good 10+ pounds worth of stuff. I’ll load it up on longer, or farther away day treks with my jet boil, layers, heck even a sleeping pad-tarp-sleeping bag liner-emergency bivvy combo, if I’m going somewhere sketchy.

Picture of my trekking poles I use day hiking before I had taken them out of the manufacture packaging. — You don’t need fancy trekking poles to day hike. I bought these from Dick’s Sporting Goods in store for a lot cheaper than the REI in-store choices.

Preventing Injury

Twisted ankle injuries

This goes hand in hand with using your poles for more stability. If you’re like me, and are apt to flail about to catch yourself on a slip, then you’re likely at higher risk of an ankle sprain. Being able to re-balance fast with your poles, before you twist to the point of ankle cartilage failure, is a pretty good reason to bring them day hiking. And it’s not only your ankles you could be saving.

Fall related injuries

By stopping a certain amount of slips that would have proceeded into falls, you’re saving yourself from bloodied knees, hands or arms, or even concussions that could take a turn for the worse (a certain amount of cerebral edema could lead to brain herniation), if you’re having to work your cardiovascular system hard to get back to your car, miles away.

Falls where you start tumbling down a steep hill, picking up momentum and begin to bounce at 30-40 miles per hour, are the types where you’re going to break bones, your jaw, your everything.

As of the time of this article’s writing, a hiker that was part of a Facebook hiking group I followed and participated in, has just lost her life after slipping on a hike on Mount Baldy (Mount San Antonio) and tumbling 700 feet down the Baldy Bowl. Same thing happened to one hiker a few hours before, but luckily he didn’t hit any rocks or trees as he slid down, so he was okay.

Knee related strains

Going down the disastrously steep Mission Point trail in O’Melveny Park, Granada Hills, CA puts a lot of resistance force on your ligaments around your knees. On that trail, your leg muscles have to do overtime to keep you constantly balanced on descent, and don’t get a chance to relax for a good mile and a half.

I feel a little discomfort around my right knee, after going down that trail, for several days afterward. The poles don’t work miracles, but they do take the edge off of this phenomenon. I’m thinking they may keep my knees healthier for longer, as I age and become more vulnerable to knee related problems, secondary to resistance exercise. Which brings use to our next reason to use trekking poles on day hikes:

Reduced resistance related leg work

When I’m involved in some serious lunges, going up steep trail or trail steps, I find having my poles with me takes some of that resistance force off my legs, and redistributes it to my triceps. Same deal when walking back down the mountain: putting my poles on the next step down, with my palms on the blunt ends of the handles, again I can take some of that resistance force off my legs, and into my arm muscles.

Holding one of my poles in steep downhill mode, on a day hike at O'Melveny Park, Granada Hills, CA — Holding one of my poles in steep downhill mode, on a day hike at O’Melveny Park, Granada Hills, CA

Get your arms involved in the exercise

Speaking of getting my triceps involved in the climb, using poles, I’m indeed able to work my arms a bit more than they normally would be, in the sport of hiking. It’s nothing near what I would get in a push-up routine, or other dedicated upper body workout. And I’ve never gotten exercise induced soreness from using trekking poles. Still if I’m out there for 4 hours, and that’s my big exercise time allotment for the day, or for a few days, then I might as well at least try to give my arms something to do.

Avoiding making orthopedic injuries worse

They usually don’t trouble me, and most of the time I don’t even know they’re there, but there is a bulging disc in my lower back, and one in my neck. And if I do something weird – like bend a certain way, while holding a heavy object on a DIY construction project, for instance – they will flare up, and I certainly will feel one or the other, for a few months.

Using trekking poles minimizes the more jarring aspects of hiking. Those maneuvers that might further irritate my pinched nerve, when it’s in a flare. Things like stepping down a large step on trail. Doing such without poles means doing it in a less controlled, more abrupt way, where my body has to absorb a higher amount of force from the downward momentum of stepping down, being broke by my foot when it again contacts the ground.

But when I have my poles, the step down is a lot more controlled, with less downward momentum, and thus less shock absorption in my back.

Plantar fasciitis from a chronically tight calf is another one that often gets me. But it seems like when I use my trekking poles on a day hike, they take enough wear and tear off my plantar fascia, that it doesn’t flare up any worse afterwards, like it does if I jog.

Picture of my trekking poles on the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Water Crossings

Even on trails like those in Santa Anita Canyon, that are mostly flat and gradual in their climbs, there are still lots of creek crossings. These are the places you want to unstrap your poles from your pack, and use them to balance on the hop rocks set up in the streams, to keep your feet from getting wet at crossings.

Heck I used my trekking poles when day hiking the other day, to cross a creek on the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains. They make the crossings so much easier. I didn’t hurt that I had my Salomon X Ultra Gortex hiking shoes either, as I did have to put my feet a little bit in the water.

Water crossing on the Backbone Trail, Santa Monica Mountains. Glad I had my trekking poles at that point.

Discouraging predators

Andrew Skurka explained on his Google Talk ‘The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide’, that he successfully thwarted a grizzly bear charge, by throwing a trekking pole at it. But for the mere mortal hiker, you may be able to make yourself look bigger and scarier than you actually are, by raising your poles in the air, upon the advancement of a black bear or coyote. Heck if you’re super lucky, you might be able to smack one on the nose with a pole, to get them to abort a charge that doesn’t appear to be a bluff.

Being able to enjoy the sites

Before used trekking poles for day hiking, I spent a good deal of time looking at the trail right in front of my feet to make sure my next steps were going to be smooth sailing. This was especially true on rougher areas of trail, with small fissures, uneven, rocky terrain, or other small obstacles.

But now that I’m using them on my day hikes, they’ve become my forward feelers, letting me know without having to look if anything is going on, directly in front of my feet. This then has given me the confidence to spend more time looking around at distance, and enjoy the surrounding countryside. More time relaxing, and less time worrying about the micro-technicals of my next steps, means a better hike and better quality of life.