Hiking & Trails
Trekking Poles for Beginners
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Trekking poles are an easy add-on that can make hiking feel steadier, especially on hills. Here's what I use and how I set them up.
What I use
I hike with two Pacemaker Stixs Journey AS poles. They're an affordable Amazon brand, and they've done the job on my own hikes.
How to set your pole height
Start on flat ground. Hold the poles with the tips on the ground and adjust the length until your elbows are bent at about 90 degrees. That's a good rule to start with, then adjust to fit.
- Uphill: shorten them a bit.
- Downhill: lengthen them a bit.
Adjust before the steep section, not halfway up it.
The science: how trekking poles reduce knee load on descents
Going downhill feels easy on your lungs but hard on your knees, and there's a reason for that. On a descent, every step drops your body a little, and your leg muscles have to catch you and slow you down. Your thigh muscles do that braking while they lengthen, and your knee joint takes the force of each landing. Add a pack and there's more weight to stop with every step.
Trekking poles give that force a second path. When you plant a pole ahead of you and lean a bit of weight onto it, your arms and shoulders absorb part of the drop instead of your legs doing all the work. Picture walking down stairs while holding the handrail: you're sharing the load with your arms.
Researchers at Western Illinois University measured this. Hikers walked downhill with and without poles, with no pack, a daypack, and a big expedition pack. With poles, the turning forces at the ankle, knee, and hip went down, and so did how hard the knee and ankle had to work to absorb each step. That held true even with a heavy pack.
What this means on the trail: On long or steep descents, plant your poles a step ahead and let them take some weight, especially if your knees complain on the way down. Poles also help with balance on loose rock and stream crossings. Use rubber tips on rock where you can, and keep the pole tips on the trail so you don't chew up plants along the edges.
On the trail
Poles can dig up trail edges and plants, so keep the tips on the trail and rock where you can, and follow the Leave No Trace principles. For the rest of your gear, see my beginner day-hike checklist.
Sources
- PubMed: Trekking poles and knee load on descents (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2007)
- Leave No Trace: The 7 Principles
To be transparent: I use AI to help gather some of the data for the product comparisons. The experiences and opinions are my own.