Wow, what a beautiful place. You do find some nice parks and wild areas.

As to the hiking pole thing, yeah that has always left me scratching my head too. Here I see even people in their 20s using them. I never really saw the purpose. Unless it's a pacing issue. You know, to try to spread your energy out and such. If you can save 5% of the energy from walking without poles, I suppose that is a little longer you can walk. I don't know. But yeah, always looks strange to me.