[pct-l] Cook pots for 2 and Trekking poles

[JoPH]

I have been watching the list go by and because I only get the digest it's
usually much later by the time I read it. In the meantime the questions have
all been answered much more thoroughly than I would have done. However, I
saw a couple of threads go by that I could offer a couple of comments on --

Cooking for 2: My husband and I have been section hiking the PCT for a few
years now and we have always cooked together. What we use has evolved into 1
MSR simmer lite stove, 1 titanium 2 liter pot, 1 plastic bowl (I of us eats
out of the pot) and 2 cups. While one of us (usually me) is cooking the
other is setting up the sleeping bags, getting water etc. This works well
for us--cooking alone is fine also, I just wanted you to know that some
people do it together and prefer it. 

Trekking poles: A couple of years ago my husband developed some problems
with his knees so he started using the leki poles. Since I didn't have a
problem I didn't see any reason to use them. Then after hiking together, he
with poles me without, we found that I started to lag behind. The main
reason I think was confidence and balance (although rhythm may have played a
part too). Anyway, I decided to try the gossamer gear poles (very light
weight-ozs, no bells and whistles etc) and I found that they helped me move
faster on uneven ground, get through snow and eliminate the hand swelling
problem Donna mentioned earlier. 

Jo