[pct-l] best way to travel by air with trekking poles?

[Maxine Weyant]

You are correct about not being able to do carry-on.  If I have a backpack with side pouches, I shorten the poles and stuff them in the side pouch, using the pole tip covers (which often pop off) and then wrapping the tips in socks, camp towel, etc.)  I cinch it all down with whatever straps are on the pack and bind the poles together.  If you don't have side pouches, you could do the same thing inside the pack, taking care to pad the tips even more and not to let a bear can or cook pot press hard against the poles. 

I tend to fly on Alaska or Horizon when I heading from Seattle to my section hikes, and they usually have very tough plastic bags I can put my whole pack in.  If your airline doesn't carry them, you could wander around to other airline's check-in stations to obtain one of those bags.  Sometimes they're out in the open, not even at the desk itself. 

Dys-feng shui-nal