It was 60 degrees here today. Quite a beautiful day for February. We took the opportunity to hike a trail that tends to be muddy.

I received a gift of hiking poles for my birthday this year. Thanks to my brother who knows me well! This is the first time I’ve used them, as we’ve been sticking to paved surfaces and easy hikes during the previous icy and wintry weather. Actually, I used one pole today. I held the dogs’ leashes in one hand and the hiking pole in the other. It worked out well since I normally hold both leashes in one hand 75% of the time anyway.

We started on one of the bridle trails at West Branch State Park. In my experience, horse trails are muddy a good bit of the time. After all, horses hooves are essentially shovels at the end of their legs. And horses are heavy, so the ground gets compacted. This portion of the trail was muddy and slick, but thankfully flat. The poles helped! When I slipped, they gave me better balance. I wasn’t tensing to keep my balance nearly as often.

About half a mile out, the Buckeye Trail crossed our path and we turned onto that. Most of the mud cleared up, but the trail started going up and down hills and winding around. At some places it became narrow. What I call bunny trails. This is where the hiking pole got really useful. I felt much more stable going uphill on a narrow path. Usually, I feel like I’m going to tumble down the hill if I’m not careful. I switched hands with the pole and leashes here for better balance. Going downhill was better too as the pole took some pressure off my knees which tend to hurt when hiking on grades.

We had a couple shallow stream crossings and I was able to keep my balance better and let the pole absorb stress rather than my knees when balancing on the logs in the water. I think the added confidence may increase my hiking speed slightly too. I am a slow hiker, so every bit helps.

And lastly, I found an unintended use for the poles! When Zekie stops directly in front of me to sniff something, I can tap him with the pole to get him moving again. This works much better than my previous method of trying to push him away from apparently tantalizing odors with the side of my foot.

When I walk dogs, Claire is to stay on the right and Zekie’s assigned spot is on the left. This keeps leashes from getting tangled and wound around each other or trees on the trailside. They are pretty good about staying in their spots but occasionally try to switch. I found that rather than a verbal correction, I can just physically guide them back to their place with pressure from the pole. It didn’t seem to phase them at all. They just corrected their positions without even slowing down. Kind of like a herding staff.

The last portion of our hike to get back to the car was along the campground road. I just shortened the pole to its shortened storage length and attached it to my pack with a carabiner and an elastic loop. It worked great.

My experience trying the hiking pole was a success and I foresee getting a lot of use out of them. I hope you were able to get outside and enjoy some beautiful weather too!