HikeArizona.COM

After four friends recently broke a knee cap since the first of November, started wearing knee pads that I picked up at Home Depot. Though none of their injuries occurred while hiking, back packing or cycling. It reminded me of Lon McAdams injury while in the Superstitions several years ago.

And not a bad thing to pack if doing off trail scrambling esp in sharp limestone terrain

I need to dig my Volleyball ones out of Storage. They come in mighty handy when Chimneying too...

Come on chums...no Monica joke

I think Brian used to wear knee pads and shin guards after puncturing his leg down to bone and cartilage (hiking and tripped into a rock.)

And since Chums may be away on vacation, here you go Bob:

And get a pair for your girlfriend!

While I can see the value on certain specific terrain, if I wore protective gear for every possible scenario while hiking I would look like the Michelin man.

CannondaleKid wrote:I would look like the Michelin man

I think sticking with the Inspector Gadget look suits you fine.

@chumley Which is why I won't dress like the Michelin man, I wouldn't have a place for all my gadgets. :tt:
Laugh if you will, it don't make no never-mind to me... :bdh:

Suffice to say, there are a number of folks (myself as well) who are glad I had the right item to assist them with various emergencies.

While my 'gadgets' may change based on the type of hike, the core list is based on 13 years of hiking in Arizona and it works for me.

BTW, should you need help from me? Sorry, you're on your own Chumpley. :STP:

Oooo, a Button Pushers Battle....

I don't think I could comfortably hike with knee pads on! Sounds awful!

Wow, interesting debate, knee pads or not? I for one would benefit from any protective gear I could possibly wear as I'm like a bull in a china shop on the trail. On the other hand, there isn't enough gear to protect me from myself. So I would relinquish the knee pads to use after hours at your local pub in the event you fall off the bar stool. You young people out there need to stop over thinking this stuff and just do it. A cut and scrape along the way make for awesome trail talk when you get to my age.

@AZDigger Not so sure about the "Young" People part... "Younger" maybe, but I'm not entirely sure there's a Person that's contributed to this Thread that's under 40 except for maybe the Original Poster....And I can pretty much assure you that everyone on this Thread has experienced quite a bit of Blood Loss in their Hiking Life. I consider it an Anomaly if I'm not Bleeding somewhere by the end of a Hike...But there is something to the Knee Pad Utilization...When you have your Kneecaps jammed against an Opposite Wall to keep you from Falling, it can get mighty uncomfortable in a Hurry, especially when you have Arthritic Knees and are missing the middle third of your Patella Tendon. The Gnarly Rock in the Superstitions can slice you and dice you pretty bad too when you're doing stuff like that... It's also a tad uncomfortable even if you don't have Knee Problems, but you're sliding down Sandstone. Some People like to keep a little bit of the Pants (or 150.00 Wetsuit) and Skin anyway...

If yer not bleedin', yer not trying hard enough. ;-)

Hike underground all the time with knee pads, if you don't have shin guards you just scoot them down on your shins if you need freedom of movement. Lots of sports now have very low profile pads for just about every part of your body. In caving I 've worn knee pads, shin guards, forearm guards, elbow pads, gloves of course, for hours underground and been very glad to have them if you are crawling or scrambling 4-5 out of 8-10 hours on a trip.

I do wear them for certain tasks for work: Hike 10 ft, kneel on rocks staring at the ground, repeat 400+ times per day.

Also, agree with Outdoor Lover - wonderful for canyoneering (depending on canyon). They are cheap and protect my more expensive clothing and wetsuit quite well.