The stick is one of the world’s first technologies. Apes use sticks to find food, hunt animals, and even to help them walk: vital clues that the use of sticks has been around as long as humanity itself.
Peasants used staffs to help them carry heavy loads, and to defend themselves when they couldn’t afford metal weapons. Pharaohs and archbishops wielded them as symbols of divine power. Gandalf had one and he’s obviously one of the greatest wizards of all time. Whether fetching water from wells or slinging Balrog-busting spells, staffs are everywhere you look through human history and imagination.
I love staffs. They have helped me hike up mountains, warded off dangerous beasts and saved me from being swept away by rivers. These Swiss army knives of nature are still used today by walkers all over the world. But their use has faded over time. Why? Do they look weird? Have they been replaced with superior technology? Don’t people go on proper adventures anymore?
Read on and discover why a staff could be a great addition to your next adventure.
WHAT IS A STAFF?
A staff is a long wooden stick, usually between elbow and shoulder height, although if you are a wizard you may prefer yours a bit taller.
HOWEVER - I’m not talking about a walking stick. Walking sticks are shorter at about waist height, usually with a handle, and typically used by older people to help them with mobility. You can call a staff a walking stick if you like; just prepare for banter about broken hips etc.
Also, I’m not talking about canes (walking sticks with fancy tops) or walking poles (more on them later). I’m talking about staffs. Still with me?
THE BENEFITS OF WALKING WITH A STAFF
Here are some of the benefits of having a staff on your adventures:
Helps you walk further
Leaning on your staff takes some of the weight off your feet by redistributing the strain around your body. Less tired means more fun. You can even put your backpack on it and carry it over your shoulders (like you’re carrying a bucket of water on each end) to take the weight elsewhere through your arms and give your sore shoulders a much needed break.
Tackle steep slopes more easily
When going uphill, you can really pull down on the staff to help you make your way up steep bits without your legs getting as tired. Your quads will thank you. And when going downhill, you can use it to relieve the strain on your knees, as well as stopping yourself from slipping and stumbling down a steep incline.
Improves posture
You can keep yourself upright rather than hunching over when you walk, especially with a heavy backpack. You spend enough of your life hunching over screens as it is - your neck and back will thank you!
Builds muscle in arms, shoulders and neck
By redistributing your weight away from your legs, you can get that sweet muscle tone that makes you look and feel like a real adventurer. It’s good to remind yourself!
Keep your balance
Whether crossing a river, picking your way across boulders or for those times when The Floor Is Made Of Lava, it’s useful to have a third limb to help you balance.
Keeps your feet dry
If you want to avoid plunging your feet into cold soggy wetness (there be blisters) you can test the ground in front of you to make sure your feet stay happy and dry. That patch of mud is sometimes a treacherous sucking quagmire; that innocent looking puddle is sometimes a deep watery chasm to the centre of the Earth. (We’ve all been there)
Makeshift pole for shelters
Stick it in the ground and secure a tarp over it for an instant shelter against wind and rain.
Protection from angry plants
Gently push plants out of the way for ease of access along your path. Bracken, brambles, gorse, stinging nettles and anything else you’d rather not argue with. Plus you can use them to stop a tree branch thwacking backwards to hit the person behind you.
Clearing overgrown paths
This only applies to actual pre-existing paths that have become overgrown - only then is it really appropriate to use your staff as a weapon to damage plants. If you’re not on a path then it’s probably not fair to hurt the plant, only to keep it from hurting you (see above). But sometimes it’s necessary to clear some nettles from blocking an established footpath - no match for a staff.
Avoid walking into spider webs
Nothing worse than getting a faceful of web and possibly spider when walking through woods in the dark. Hold your staff up in front of you to keep your face arachnid-free.
Warding off cows/enemies
We’ve come a long way from bandits and wolves: but self-defence is still a consideration. Staffs can scare away snakes or keep a vicious dog at bay: but the biggest threat to a British walker today is an angry cow. Cows are the most dangerous beast to humans in the UK. Having a staff is a great way to discourage a nervous cow from approaching or charging you if your path takes you through their field. You would honestly not believe how wary a cow is of a big stick in your hands. It might as well be a gun. Use this power responsibly!
Prodding interesting things
Sometimes you will come across items of interest that warrant further investigation. Mushrooms, bones, bogs; anything that looks cool but that you wouldn’t want to touch with your fingers or foot. Don’t pretend you don’t enjoy prodding things!
Limbo stick
Make instant friends while building muscle tone in your lower back. The Countryside Code does say to Enjoy Yourself after all. You are highly encouraged to make the noises. Limbo limbo limbo!
Look good
Ok I admit it. I just want to look like a ranger, and occasionally a wizard, when I’m out on adventures. What’s wrong with that? If anyone thinks a staff makes you look lame, refer them to the multitude of reasons above - practically useful in every way.
QUALITIES OF A GOOD STAFF
A good staff should be:
Sturdy and trustworthy
Solid enough that you know it won’t break right when you need it most. If you can’t trust your staff then its uses are limited. Some kinds of wood make better staffs than others, but generally any kind of wood is fine. Just make sure they’re not rotten - just try and bend it, or whack it hard on something. If it doesn’t break then you should be fine.
Lightweight
A heavy, clunky staff will be more hindrance than help. A good staff should be light enough that it doesn’t tire your muscles to carry it. You should be able to swing it back and forth when walking without much effort.
Between elbow and shoulder height
This is likely to be the most comfortable for walking and distributing your weight. If smaller than this it will be harder to lean on and distribute your weight; if taller then it will become impractical to swing around, and probably start to get too heavy.
Comfortable in your hand
You want to be able to walk long distances without your staff rubbing too much in your hand. It doesn’t necessarily matter if your staff still has the bark on or not: as long as you don’t get hand blisters, which suck. You can add a bit of soft material if you want (like wrapping leather around a small bit of the staff for a nice grip) but I find that as long as you have a comfortable smooth bit then you’re fine .
Good looking
You may think the appearance of your staff is not important. And that’s fine. But I think a good staff should have character: like it has seen more things than you ever will, young whippersnapper. The details are up to you, and the personality you want your staff to have. Would you prefer a straight, practical solid staff, or something with a few quirks and bends? Do you prefer bark or stripped wood; one colour or several? You can get wood with patterns on it to give a beautiful unique effect, and you might even have a cool feature on top of the staff for extra character.
STAFFS VS POLES
You may not see many staffs around anymore, but if you’ve been on a few hikes then you’ve probably noticed people using walking poles. One in each hand, and made of metal or carbon fibre, they are essentially skiing poles. Nowadays lots of walkers use them. Why? Is it because they’re easy to make and easy to advertise? Is it because they’re more fashionable than staffs and everyone wants to look like everyone else? Or maybe it’s because they provide many of the same benefits as staffs, plus several others.
BENEFITS OF POLES OVER STAFFS
Small and lightweight
Poles don’t weigh much and are lighter than a staff. You can usually pack them down when you’re not using them - put them in your bag or strap them to the outside.
Better for posture & knees
Distributing your weight through both arms is undoubtedly better for your posture than through one arm at a time. Especially when going down slopes. Not an issue for me but if your knees tire easily then this does make a real difference.
Come in a variety of colours
You can get a pair to match that brightly coloured rain jacket of yours!
Usable as skiing poles
You could save a few quid if you go skiing. Every little helps.
All that said, there are areas where staffs fare better:
BENEFITS OF STAFFS OVER POLES
Look more impressive
Can you imagine Moses parting the Red Sea with a pair of walking poles? Neither can I.
Protection from beasts
Good luck warding off a cow with some flimsy walking poles.
More natural
A stick is made of wood, which I believe has more of a spirit than a piece of carbon fibre. I think the feel of solid wood is more satisfying to the hand than metal or rubbery stuff. And wood comes from the earth and so makes for better connection with nature, which we all need more of!
Personalisation
You can carve, burn or engrave patterns into your stick, or even give your staff a name. If you can name a sword, you can name a staff. Entirely optional but worthwhile in my opinion. I think it helps to give it soul and character. You can engrave it onto the staff, or just name it without engraving. Of course, you can name your poles as well
Low cost
Sticks are not only free, but you also get the satisfaction of finding your own raw material to make a trusty walking companion. Of course, you could always just buy a staff, but where’s the fun in that?
Hopefully you are now enlightened to the potential for a staff to improve all your adventuring endeavours. If you are interested in making your own staff, here’s a quick guide to send you on your way. Good luck!
Otherwise, I will leave you with a passage from Merlin Sheldrake’s mind-melding masterpiece, Entangled Life:
'Consider a blind man with a stick,' wrote the theorist Gregory Bateson. 'Where does the blind man's self begin? At the tip of the stick? At the handle of the stick? Or at some point halfway up the stick?'
The philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty employed a similar thought experiment nearly thirty years earlier. He concluded that a person's stick was no longer just an object. The stick extends their senses, and becomes part of their sensory apparatus, a prosthetic organ of their body. Where the person's self begins and ends is not as straightforward a question as it might seem at first glance.
