Walking Stick?

[Guest ClayJar]

Whoa. I definitely need to get one of those walking sticks!

[Guest Big Jack VI]

A friend of mine workes for the local tree and shade dept. When they cut down some trees, he always saves a few nice sticks to make walking sticks/canes out of. I had knee surgery a few years ago, and 1 of his sticks did nicely for walking around.

I guess, I'm trying to lead you to your local tree/road dept. If you ask nicely, they might be able to help you out!

 

Joey

[Guest Byron]

Last spring (2000) Anne and I bought telescoping aluminum walking sticks from REI at about $50 each. I wasn't sure I wanted to be old enough to require such a thing. Anne said she really wanted one. Then we went on the first hike using the sticks. Boy was I supprised, I was able to travel further and faster. Some sections where you have to slowly pick your footing went much easier with the "third foot" to help keep your balance. I wouldn't think of starting out on a hike without it. I would recommend, if you can afford it, to get a light weight, adjustable, with shock aborsobtion. You'd be supprised how much adjust the length. The only negative was that my arms were sore the next day.

[Guest Gossamyrrh]

As a non-stick user, I'd be willing to give it a go just to see what it's like...but I really hate taking "extra stuff" along on a hike. I think the only thing I'd use it for was to smack whomever tried to take my GPS away from me!

[Guest c_oflynn]

I normally just find something in the forest when I go out. That way I don't have to lug it everywhere, just toss when done!

quote:

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only thing I'd use it for was to smack whomever tried to take my GPS away from me!

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heh, i can't agree more

 

Colin

[Guest c_oflynn]

I normally just find something in the forest when I go out. That way I don't have to lug it everywhere, just toss when done!

quote:

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only thing I'd use it for was to smack whomever tried to take my GPS away from me!

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heh, i can't agree more

 

Colin

[Guest PharoaH]

We saved several small trunks from a Crape Myrtle we removed last year. Over the winter the wood dried out just fine. The wood is strong and fairly lightweight. If you're still interested in carving your own stick, I'll bring a trunk to the Second Atlanta Geocacher's Meeting. If you're going to be there, you can have it.

[Guest PharoaH]

Almost forgot... You'll want to use a marine sealant or marine polyurethane to seal the wood. I haven't looked around for it, but I would bet a boating supplier would have it.

[Guest LoCache]

I'll take it!!! Thanks for the offer! That sounds like exactly what I was looking for!

 

THANKS!

Geo

 

http://www.geopolitan.net/geotrex

[Guest dustystar]

Look for a tree that has somewhat straight and horizontal branches. Usually, a "sucker" branch will sprout straight up from the regular branches. When you find one that has the right diameter and length, cut the entire branch down. I used one from a Poplar tree. The main branch should be cut short enough to grasp in your hand. The angle of the sucker branch should give you a natural grip. Cut the lenght (sucker part) a bit long because you can finish cut it later. De-bark it with a wood rasp. Dry it by storing in a dry place for several months or ask your local pizza place to cook it for you. Stain it if you like, seal it, then coat it with a good quality varnish. Get a rubber cane bottom from you local medical supply store to attach to the bottom. You can stick a soda bottle cap to it for better grip - just don't use it across the kitchen floor!

[Guest Jose]

Wal-Mart sells a walking stick for about $10. Good price for a stick adequate for most circumstances (except some of the extreme ones described here).

 

Jose

[Guest Sidhe]

infested areas you can hold your stick by the middle, vertical, about a foot before your face and keep yourself from being webbed.

 

In generally brushy areas you can hold the stick relatively close to your body and deflect brush. Really handy if you think there's something irritating growing around.

 

If you *do* hurt yourself, slip, twist an ankle, whatever - you've got a good support with you. You've also got a club, should you need it, or a flag-pole for waving things to attract attention.

 

Sticks are nice.

 

Best walking stick ever was a piece of found wood with an appropriate bend and a knot for a handle, self-dried when found and given a lovely sheen with crushed-up potato chips. I suppose any oil might do to rub into unfinished wood, but the potato chips were fun.. and handy.. and full of preservatives so the stick didn't rot. might have attracted raccoons though.. hadn't thought of that.. on second thought, *don't* use food products.

 

 

I'd be interested in looking at links if anyone can provide them for some kind of amazing titanium & space-age engineering walking stick of the gods, I love gadgets & gizmos...

 

~Sidhe <--going to put up some Faerie Caches in No. Cal.

 

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Underhill, Overhell, where the sith and seelie dwell...

[Guest Sidhe]

infested areas you can hold your stick by the middle, vertical, about a foot before your face and keep yourself from being webbed.

 

In generally brushy areas you can hold the stick relatively close to your body and deflect brush. Really handy if you think there's something irritating growing around.

 

If you *do* hurt yourself, slip, twist an ankle, whatever - you've got a good support with you. You've also got a club, should you need it, or a flag-pole for waving things to attract attention.

 

Sticks are nice.

 

Best walking stick ever was a piece of found wood with an appropriate bend and a knot for a handle, self-dried when found and given a lovely sheen with crushed-up potato chips. I suppose any oil might do to rub into unfinished wood, but the potato chips were fun.. and handy.. and full of preservatives so the stick didn't rot. might have attracted raccoons though.. hadn't thought of that.. on second thought, *don't* use food products.

 

 

I'd be interested in looking at links if anyone can provide them for some kind of amazing titanium & space-age engineering walking stick of the gods, I love gadgets & gizmos...

 

~Sidhe <--going to put up some Faerie Caches in No. Cal.

 

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Underhill, Overhell, where the sith and seelie dwell...

[Guest Hard Slate]

www.cascadedesigns.com/tracks

 

I'm partial to the compact traveler.

[Guest Jebediah]

I've purchased one of the collapsible aluminum models for travel.

 

But I prefer an old walking stick I made from a piece of local deadwood from a tree razed for a housing development. It's interesting to see the character of walking sticks people make, sometimes you can tell what region people are from just from the wood they used (ash, mesquite, etc.)

 

I've found that Varathane makes a very sturdy exterior finish, once you've finished sanding and staining. I wrapped the grip with rawhide, added a wrist thong, reinforced the tip with copper sheet and covered with a rubber cap for use on rock.

[Guest kymike]

Check out this website for a nice walking stick.....www.kywalkingstick.com

[Guest Lightning1996YCJP]

All this about Walking Sticks? OK, I gotta put in my 2 cents

I just bought a walking stick at the swap meet for $10...very sturdy, painted with cool designs, finished and a cap on end. Used it recently while cache-stashing and I never realized how much a stick would help with stability on rocky slopes....WoW! don't know how I survived my many forays into the field without my third leg.

Lightning....YCJP

"Support Search and Rescue....GET LOST!"

[Guest Lone Ranger]

We just visited our local everything store and bought $2.00 - 6 1/2ft bamboo canes. Then we glued chair tips to the ends. Lone Ranger added a secret compartment to the top of his with a plastic plumbing fitting to store extra batteries. tonto has hers decorated with a champagne cork; red, white, and blue stripes with stars for every cache found. Works good for pole vaulting streams, finding caches in bushes, and they are very lightweight.

 

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[Guest tnunnery]

Sierratradingpost.com has several collapsible, anti-shock and standard hiking poles on sale at serious discounts. I think the cheapest was $19.95 and some are less than $50 for a pair. Not a bad deal unless you are as creative as the Lone Ranger. I thought he used a horse - why would he need a walking stick anyway?

[Guest tnunnery]

Sierratradingpost.com has several collapsible, anti-shock and standard hiking poles on sale at serious discounts. I think the cheapest was $19.95 and some are less than $50 for a pair. Not a bad deal unless you are as creative as the Lone Ranger. I thought he used a horse - why would he need a walking stick anyway?

[Guest Lone Ranger]

Well, we do use a horse (power). We call that mighty trailblazer Silver. Alas, it is a horse of a different color. Hi-Yo Silver Away!!

 

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[Guest PharoaH]

Hey LoCache,

Have you had a chance to begin carving yet? I was just curious if you had found any use for the homemade walking stick. I still carry the heavy one I had at the last get-togeather.

[Guest MontanaMadDog]

I carry a stick...I rarely use it for walking. Sometimes it's a pain, but after one use, it pays off. I usually carry a 50-100 lb. pack, so the "third leg" concept is applicable. Oh, and I am used to carrying a weapon while on patrol, so a stick is a lightweight substitute (Semper Fi).

 

Why I carry it...

It gives me balance when crossing streams, boulder-strewn areas, and dead-fall trees that block the trail. It could be used to "bop" a critter if need be, but more likely to just swish the snattlerakes from the grass or tear down the webs that block my path. If I crash and burn, it can assist me back to my feet. I can probe a mud bog, or a snow field.

 

My stick is over 6 feet tall, so it will last a long time (nothing to protect the ground end). It's an aspen that has a nice burl on the end...I can get them from the feller who discovered the aspen grove with all the burls...if anyone is interested.

[Guest Havasu Desert Rat]

Well, I gotta toss in my 2 cents worth since I use a walking stick in a professional capacity. I'm a hunting guide and use it mainly to steady binoculars when I want a steady look at something, but don't want to take the time to set up a tripod. There are a bunch of us out here using them and they are all made from the century plant. That stalk that the century plant puts up, once dried, is very strong and light, and comes in every size imaginable. I put a cane tip on one end, and hollowed out the other end and epoxied in a pair of nuts with a 1/8 inch threaded brass bolt, headless and rounded off on the end. The adapter on my binoculars fits over the brass bolt. The stick is also handy for balance when carrying a heavy pack, especially down a steep slope.

[Guest Silver]

quote:

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Originally posted by Lone Ranger:

We call that mighty trailblazer Silver. Alas, it is a horse of a different color. Hi-Yo Silver Away!!

---

 

Hmph! I take exception to that comment! Away indeed!

 

Silver

[Guest Silver]

quote:

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Originally posted by Lone Ranger:

We call that mighty trailblazer Silver. Alas, it is a horse of a different color. Hi-Yo Silver Away!!

---

 

Hmph! I take exception to that comment! Away indeed!

 

Silver

[Guest dustystar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Silver:

Hmph! I take exception to that comment! Away indeed!

 

 

Silver

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You just couldn't leave it alone, could you!

[Guest dustystar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Silver:

Hmph! I take exception to that comment! Away indeed!

 

 

Silver

---

 

You just couldn't leave it alone, could you!

[Guest spiny norman]

Once had a walking stick get me out of some quicksand. Nothing life threatining but I would have been stuck there for quite a while before someone found me.

[Guest TresOkies]

About 11 years ago, a tornado ripped through Stillwater, OK. After the storm, we drove around seeing if anyone needed help and to clean up the streets. I removed a sycamore branch from the road and tossed it in the back of the truck. The power was out and wouldn't be back for a while, so I sat on the porch and worked on a piece of the branch until I had a fair stick. It's a light wood, so it's not good for dire situations, but for a day-to-day hiking stick, it's been great.

I've been considering the collapsible aluminum types, but haven't gotten around to it. The information from geocachers is great. Thanks a lot.

[Guest Sempervirens]

I use a 5 foot Locust sapling that I got while helping my Father in law clear some brush. That was in 1987 and it's still just as strong as ever.

 

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[Guest LoCache]

I have found several good sticks to suit my purpose, and I am quickly getting heavily in to making my own. This thread has been a big help!

 

1) Thanks to everyone who responded!

 

2) Special thanks to BOREAL JEFF for the post about beaver sticks! I recently found a handful of them and he was right! They are PERFECT!

 

3) Extra special thanks to PharoaH and his SO Cleopatra! They were kind enough to give me what has become my very first experiment with creating my own walking stick, and it is a nice one!

 

Anyhow, thanks again to everyone, and I am now moving to a new thread in the southeast forums on WHERE TO GET BEAVER STICKS!!! ;-)

 

Geo

http://www.geopolitan.net/geotrex

[Guest ClayJar]

I finally got my walking sticks a couple weeks ago. I'd picked up three wild sticks of various dimensions in my treks (none from protected areas, of course), but none of them were quite right. I was at the Wal picking up a spare hat and some *ade, and I had an idea. Sure enough, there by some mops and stuff were replacement handles. For $3 a piece, I bought two 60-inch metal poles with a nice ribbed grip alone their full length. They have a metal screw-into-the-mop-head part at the bottom, and at the top is a loop that you can attach lanyards and stuff to. Their quite lightweight and still quite sturdy, and although they don't collapse, I can deal with that.

[Guest Seesthewind]

Some of the most beautiful walking sticks I've ever seen were made from Diamond Willow which is found only in a few places such as northern Montana and southern Alberta. My father-in-law (from West Yellowstone, MT) has several. Below is a link to a site that advertises itself as the "Best DWWS on the WWW":

 

http://mypage.direct.ca/l/laninga/

 

You can order unfinished DW sticks and carve and finish them yourself or you can order prefinished sticks of all sizes and grades.

 

Also, the following link will take you to a nicely written piece "In Praise Of Walking Sticks".

 

http://salwen.com/walkstck.html

 

I'm new to geocaching (and to this forum) but I can say that, unless a cache is hidden in a parking lot or such, I wouldn't be looking for it without my trusty stick. With a thong wrist loop on your stick or staff there's no problem handling both your "Bear Bonker" and your GPS

 

 

[This message has been edited by Seesthewind (edited 17 September 2001).]

[Guest Seesthewind]

Some of the most beautiful walking sticks I've ever seen were made from Diamond Willow which is found only in a few places such as northern Montana and southern Alberta. My father-in-law (from West Yellowstone, MT) has several. Below is a link to a site that advertises itself as the "Best DWWS on the WWW":

 

http://mypage.direct.ca/l/laninga/

 

You can order unfinished DW sticks and carve and finish them yourself or you can order prefinished sticks of all sizes and grades.

 

Also, the following link will take you to a nicely written piece "In Praise Of Walking Sticks".

 

http://salwen.com/walkstck.html

 

I'm new to geocaching (and to this forum) but I can say that, unless a cache is hidden in a parking lot or such, I wouldn't be looking for it without my trusty stick. With a thong wrist loop on your stick or staff there's no problem handling both your "Bear Bonker" and your GPS

 

 

[This message has been edited by Seesthewind (edited 17 September 2001).]

[Guest tecmage]

about $50 for both poles.

 

Richard

[Guest found]

Ok.. add another 2 cents to the pot.. I've used a walking stick from time to time, and I do like the idea of it. but I wouldn't go buy one. I'll try to find something in the area I'm at. One day while one of my brothers and I were out walking I found the perfect stick. right size and weight. But I didn't want to bring it home nor did I want to lose it. So I hid it in the bushes, thinking next time I walked that area, I'd have it. I returned and of course, the stick was gone.. about a month later, the wife of a different brother, was showing me some pics of the kids at this same area. and there in my nephews hand was MY stick!! I asked him..and he said, he found it in the bushes..said it was a great stick..lol but of course he didn't know where he tossed it. I won't be so quick to toss the next one I find.

[Guest found]

Ok.. add another 2 cents to the pot.. I've used a walking stick from time to time, and I do like the idea of it. but I wouldn't go buy one. I'll try to find something in the area I'm at. One day while one of my brothers and I were out walking I found the perfect stick. right size and weight. But I didn't want to bring it home nor did I want to lose it. So I hid it in the bushes, thinking next time I walked that area, I'd have it. I returned and of course, the stick was gone.. about a month later, the wife of a different brother, was showing me some pics of the kids at this same area. and there in my nephews hand was MY stick!! I asked him..and he said, he found it in the bushes..said it was a great stick..lol but of course he didn't know where he tossed it. I won't be so quick to toss the next one I find.

[Guest ClayJar]

The main practical problem with the "use what's there" approach, I find, is that there might not be anything there to use. Those hikes where I need an extra leg or two tend to be the hikes where no adequate sticks are available. (Of course, there might even be environmental concerns over the "use what's there" approach, at least in some places.)

[Guest Choberiba]

All thevtrails around here have been picked clean of walking sticks for over 800 years.

 

Legend has it that a Native American known as Walking Tall, hoarded them all. His ghost still lives on to collect anything worth using.

 

Either that, or I'm too lazy to spend time looking, in either case I bought a $25 trekking pole at REI and love the stability it offers.

[Guest spiny norman]

While placing my first cache today, I came upon another use for my walking stick. I was in some thick brush and wanted to get the best reading I could. On my Stick, there is a rubber band that I use for animal tracking. I found that I could use it to attach the GPSR to one end of the stick and by holding it above my head, I was able to get a far better reading. This should work on the hunt as well.

[Guest Choberiba]

quote:

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Originally posted by spiny norman:

attach the GPSR to one end of the stick and by holding it above my head, I was able to get a far better reading.

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This is an idea worth some trials, especially when it's brush rather than a mountain or tall trees blocking the line-of sight.

 

Took my new Vista up to one of the local peaks today to see if a WAAS sattilite might pop into view... No such luck

[Guest Olar]

quote:

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Originally posted by spiny norman:

On my Stick, there is a rubber band that I use for animal tracking.

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Excellent idea for getting the GPSR higher but my question is how is a rubber band used for animal tracking?

 

 

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Happy Caching, Olar

 

"if you come to a fork in the trail, then take it!"

[Guest Olar]

quote:

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Originally posted by spiny norman:

On my Stick, there is a rubber band that I use for animal tracking.

---

Excellent idea for getting the GPSR higher but my question is how is a rubber band used for animal tracking?

 

 

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Happy Caching, Olar

 

"if you come to a fork in the trail, then take it!"

[Guest rockdog200]

Leki makes some nice hiking sticks a little pricey We have two sets

[Guest web-ling]

I have two hiking sticks I like a lot. One I made from a Texas Cedar (juniper, actually, but everyone calls them cedar). It's strong, and fairly light, and looks cool. The other I made from a Colorado Aspen branch - strong, but extremely light. I dislike metal poles because I hike in the mountains, and I dislike carrying a lightning rod.

[Guest ClayJar]

quote:

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Originally posted by web-ling:

I dislike metal poles because I hike in the mountains, and I dislike carrying a

 

(Note the one allegedly useful part of this post: "crouch". In case of an imminent lightning strike near you, you want to get as low as you can, but you also want to have as little of you touching the ground as possible. The compromise is to crouch down low, which according to what I've read/seen/heard is supposed to be the "safest" method. Of course, if you have something that disagrees with this, post away; I'd love to hear about it. )

[Guest ClayJar]

quote:

---

Originally posted by web-ling:

I dislike metal poles because I hike in the mountains, and I dislike carrying a

 

(Note the one allegedly useful part of this post: "crouch". In case of an imminent lightning strike near you, you want to get as low as you can, but you also want to have as little of you touching the ground as possible. The compromise is to crouch down low, which according to what I've read/seen/heard is supposed to be the "safest" method. Of course, if you have something that disagrees with this, post away; I'd love to hear about it. )

[Guest SafireLady]

nch in Kansas. They use older Osage Orange trees for fence posts there and they last longer than any natural thing known to man. I imagine. I use it to clear cobwebs from the trail, test the waters for depth and hold back mean old sticker bushes. It will also come in handy if a Lion, tigger or hufalump should try to attack me, I could hold it up and Yell "Beat it or I will dampen my dainties!" I am sure that would scare them off.

[Guest SafireLady]

nch in Kansas. They use older Osage Orange trees for fence posts there and they last longer than any natural thing known to man. I imagine. I use it to clear cobwebs from the trail, test the waters for depth and hold back mean old sticker bushes. It will also come in handy if a Lion, tigger or hufalump should try to attack me, I could hold it up and Yell "Beat it or I will dampen my dainties!" I am sure that would scare them off.