I recently bought trekking poles, and I still only use one of them when I hike. I like to have a free hand to hoist myself up onto or lower myself down on rugged terrain. The thing I like about trekking poles for me at least is that, for the money, I'm getting two poles for the price of one. A collapsible decent hiking staff can cost about as much as a set of decent trekking poles. I still bring both with me because if I hit a long flat part of the trail I can use both. I can lend the second one to someone I'm hiking with.

I'm old school. I was the one that used to hunt the ground for a good hiking staff.

All in all I like trekking poles. I like that they are collapsible, and can have multifuntions.


Tom