[pct-l] Hiking poles?

[Hillary Schwirtlich]

Haha, you made my point. I know people who say horses are THE worst, they'll
swear by it... I've seen horses do some pretty bad stuff to trails
(especially around Indian Heaven Wilderness). But I've also spent a summer
working trails in the Entiat District of the Wenatchee NF (Mad Meadows
area), which is one of the most extensive dirtbike trail systems in the
country. It's pretty bad there too. But yeah, point is, people with their
little poles aren't going to do much compared to the other two.

Might as well tell people to stay off the trails completely... I've heard
wearing shoes tears up the trails. :P

On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 6:43 PM, CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net> wrote:

> Good evening,
>
> A berm can form from any kind of trail traffic, which eventually will
> encourage erosion, but the worst offenders are bicycles and motorcycles.
>  Both
> are bad because they tend to cut long, relatively continuous, groves in the
> trail surface – particularly on hills -- which absolutely beg water to
> follow and quickly make deep erosion paths.  We are very concerned about
> this effect here in the Pacific NW where it rains a good bit.
>
> Bicycle tires tend to have a higher inflation pressure, which equals ground
> contact pressure, making narrow but deep groves.
>
> Motorcycles use lower inflation pressure so they potentially won’t
> penetrate
> as deeply, but with great engine horsepower available they tend to spin
> high-traction tires often – mostly just for fun – which actually digs
> groves
> rather than just impressing them.
>
> Pack and saddle animals are a distant third as damage-creators, because
> their footprints are round and staggered don’t create long, continuous cuts
> in the trail.  Where stock causes the greatest damage is in wet areas like
> meadows and creek approaches, and on steep hills where their scrambling
> tends to kick out water bars which were placed – at great effort – to
> control drainage.
>
> Hiker’s footprints have very low impact and are barely noticeable.  Little
> trekking pole pecks on the ground are sometimes noticeable, but their
> damage
> is minimal.
>
> Steel-Eye
>
> Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
>
> http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
>
> http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 12:52 PM, Gerry Zamora <gerry0625 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > So I just got my poles maybe 1 week ago been using them on local trails
> > trying to get a feel to them and I came across some old timers
> maintaining
> > the trail in my 15 years walking these trails first time I see any trail
> > maintenance.  He began to ask me about my hiking poles and how I liked um
> > and began to explain that he does not use them as he feels they damage
> the
> > trail.  I told him that this is an equestrian trail and if any thing its
> > the
> > horses and mountain bikes.  He kinda gave me that look and I knew that
> was
> > my que and I said thank you for his work and have a good day.  Shortly
> > after
> > I was looking around and next all the bike tracks I could see these
> little
> > holes everywhere took me a minute and I realized that they are hiking
> pole
> > tracks... I see plenty of people with um never gave it much thought.  So
> my
> > question is are we doing more harm than good?  How much less damage are
> our
> > hiking poles causing.  On another note I do like them as I said my first
> > week using them and I can see why everyone loves um I can only imagine on
> a
> > thru hike or section hike...
> > Gerry0625
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