Aluminum, Wood Walking Sticks

While we've come a long way from days of yore when folks would trim a sturdy limb from a nearby hickory and use it to navigate a rocky passage or steep hill, we wandering folks are still using wood walking sticks and wood hiking staffs all over the world.

Hazelwood, hickory, and sassafras are some traditional tree species still fashioned into fine wood walking sticks. Now, though, you can also find the best of materials and technology in hiking staffs. Take, for example, the Earth Telescopic staff by Switch Sticks, Ltd. These are made of lightweight aluminum alloy, designed for shock absorption and grip comfort, and fitted with an interchangeable tip of either rubber or carbide. It's quite different from the knotted, rustic helpers of old, and it's stocked right alongside them here at Canes Galore.

Irish bard Seamus Heaney's poem "A Hazel Stick for Catherine Ann," describes a young girl who explores the natural world in the summer twilight. Here, a hazel wood hiking stick parts blades of grass to reveal a firefly: "And when I poked open the grass/ a tiny brightening den lit the eye..." As far back as folks have been outdoors exploring the natural world, they've had walking sticks and wood canes as faithful companions to be leaned against while climbing a steep knoll or to be held forth to move aside the obscuring branches of a shrub, the better to observe a nest of baby birds or new rabbits. So it gives us pleasure to seek out the finest of these hiking aids for our customers, knowing how they will enhance the pleasantest of human endeavors.

One aspect of procuring items for our inventory and displaying them for our customers on the "shelves" of this online shop is the knowledge that we're providing the best in useful implements. When a visitor discovers the perfect wood hiking stick at our site, we feel a great sense of satisfaction. When a customer is looking for the latest, lightest aluminum hiking staffs, we are happy to help them not only find the right item but also to explain other options to them. It's just the way we are.