Hiking Staff

I find that my hiking staff is an indispensible accessory while walking on the uneven horse trails, and for walking up and down the creek sides the creek beagle likes to frequent, and traversing trails with elevation changes. I haven't been using it for our morning walks on the local streets and sidewalks.

It unscrews in 3 sections to make it easier to pack, and so far has held up well. It came with a nylon case, but for the most part I leave it in the back of the car screwed together. Not worth the effort to take it apart just to put it back together. I don't recall exactly where I got it, but it is a duplicate of one that sells on eBay pretty regularly. I got mine for a little less from a web site I ran across.

It comes with a rubber crutch tip over some kind of metal pick. I had it out in the muck today and the crutch tip stayed put. However the lanyard broke. It was just a piece of folded and sewn over plastic.

I replaced it with paracord. Better than new.

Its made of Banai Wood, whatever that is. Very sturdy and I have been using it off and on again since January of 2010.

But, I can't recommend the seller I got it from. It looked like a legit web site but it turned out it was one of those places that sells by having stuff drop shipped from someplace else. I should have realized it was not that great of a place when something like this stick that was clearly made in China was advertised as "native American".  I find it hard to believe any native American had anything at all to do with this stick.

I paid for it by PayPal and did not hear anything from them for a while so emailed the contact and eventually got a promise it would be shipped. It showed up and the the nylon case had a slit in it, like it was accidentally cut while opening a case of them. After several emails back and forth I decided to just put a piece of duct tape on the inside of the slit and not worry about it. I don't use the case and in fact right this second I am not real sure where it even is.

I did some checking on the seller and determined she had a canceled eBay account. I was not one bit surprised. I don't recall the name or URL of the website but the seller's name was Charlotte something. Not a native American last name as I recall. Also, not real surprising. I do not suspect an actual scam operation. More like someone who has no clue about running a business.

[added 9-10-10]
A couple of things came to mind while hiking today. The stick makes for a decent mono-pod for stabilizing the camera for picture taking and can be used to flick sticks or other debris off the trail for some impromptu trail maintenance without even slowing down.

update 11-21-10