On one of our hikes a few months ago, someone had left a nice walking stick at the trailhead that was fashioned from a piece of green willow, presumably for the next hiker to use. Marcie picked it up and used it during the day's hike. She liked having it so much, in fact, that she kept it. Unfortunately, it didn't fare well as it dried out, so we decided to get a set of trekking poles.

After hiking with them for quite a few miles, we’ve found them to be quite useful - despite my initial reservations. Here is our list of the top ten uses we’ve found for trekking poles.