REI trekking poles

You don't have to restrict yourself to just products that REI carry. All the outdoor gear merchants online have extremely lenient return policies, basically giving unlimited lifetime refunds with no questions asked.

As a result, I wouldn't be worried about where to get them from as long as you're comfortable shopping on the internet. The benefits are that the selection is going to be wider and usually the prices are going to be cheaper than a retail walk-in store, but you sacrifice the ability to play with the gear beforehand. The internet retailers know this so that's why they are so generous on the refunds. :)

A good resource for comparison shopping and reading reviews about trekking poles is at http://www.trekkingpolesguide.com. They also have guides about what to look for when buying and explanations about features.

I am not sure what kind of trails you will be interested in – if you are looking for something light and compact, I would recommend Black Diamond ones since their FlickLock mechanism is super convenient and more secure than traditional twist locks:

http://www.trekkingpolesguide.com/products/brands/2/Black%20Diamond

Hopefully this helps you a little bit! :)

If you have friend with a pair of LT4s, borrow them. It's a whole different experience.

Nope, no friends with trekking poles. I mainly just want them to make it more convenient to pitch my poncho tarp.

$28/pair Outdoor Products poles with latch locks, at Walmart. They are the usual aluminum pole weight, but have Black Diamond mechanisms (flick locks). Best value out there, imo. I see Walmart is carrying them in blue color now in addition to green. Have not seen the gold ones lately.

I've been dragging my Wal Mart Outdoor Research poles everywhere for about three years, and they've held up fairly well. I only use one at a time, so when the first one stopped collapsing after a year or so, I started using the second one. Not bad for $20. Each weighs about 14 oz.