I spent the long weekend in Boulder, Colorado, where I saw several people hiking in Chautauqua Park using trekking poles. I've never hiked with poles before and wondered if they really helped.
A new study of 37 hikers from Northumbria University shows (in the first academic study of it's kind) that in fact, they do. Researchers tested hikers trekking up and down Snowdon (the highest mountain in England and Wales) and the results showed that there was significantly less muscle soreness and muscle damage in the group using trekking poles.
It makes me think the people I saw using poles on the trails in Chautauqua were clever. But I still wonder about the person I saw walking around (the very flat) downtown with poles?
From: Kimberly Castanon | 6/25/10 at 11:42 am
I've hiked the Royal Arch at Chautauqua several times, and poles help especially on the way down when your legs feel as unstable as jello!