Speaking of packs, I bought a new Ultimate Direction pack this week in an effort to find something that allows me to store my new
Black Diamond trekking poles while not using them. I bought them a month or so ago to take advantage of a sale at a new sporting goods store nearby, and in researching the Grindstone 100 it seems a lot of people use poles so I figure it's time to learn how to use the damn things. So I get them all set up in the pack, head out, and a strap on the pack breaks less than a mile from my car.

Back to the car, swap it out for my old pack, figure out how to strap the wizard sticks in, and head back out to the trails. I searched out some
steep ups and
downs, and it's definitely going to take a while to learn how to use them efficiently. It just really changes muscle recruitment patterns, both up and downhill, let alone the arm muscles feeling a burn they aren't used to. I know if I can learn how to use them they'll make me more efficient over gnarly, steep terrain, but it remains to be seen if a month will give me enough time.