ESSENTIAL GEAR: Dakine camping table and hiking poles offer quality for the price

Often when using gear overlanding, camping or hiking, good enough is good enough. Many pieces of equipment from tent stakes to bug nets to sporks or other cooking gear are purchased for a single use, a single trip or a single vacation.

Usually I purchase my onetime, so-called camping “junk” on Amazon or at Big Five, or borrow it from a friend’s garage or basement. This is a kind of recycling, I tell myself, because second use is good for the environment.

If my cheaper purchase does not break or wear out on first use, I put it in my might-be-used again pile in my garage, where I will remember it next time I am on the road. If I borrow gear, I try to return it, but often the lender is happy to have free space within their storage shed or garage.

I got to try out higher quality gear when Dakine reached out and offered review products, including its Carbon Explore series trekking poles ($130) and Castlerock lightweight camping table ($60).

Both are available at Sports Systems in Albuquerque.

My camping crew put these to the test on a recent overnight trip past the Gilman Tunnels in the Jemez.

The hiking poles were sturdy. I rarely hike with poles, since I dislike dog leashes getting tangled among the sticks. But during my bucket list trip to Denali National Park and Preserve, I took some that were hanging out in my garage. On that dog-less hiking adventure, the cheap poles kept me upright and ankle-ache free over boulders, tundra and snowy climbs until ... one of the big box sport store quality poles snapped as I leaned and pushed up a trail.

Dakine’s Carbon Explore series poles scoff at that kind of mishap. I adjusted the length and snapped the metal — not plastic — clips into place and headed up a rutted double-track in the Jemez. The poles did not bend or yield as I leaned and lifted my nearly 200-pound frame up and down the path.

As for the table, during the unboxing the product folded out and snapped together within seconds and without snapping any fingers or dog noses. Unlike our old bargain brand, a folding table that collapsed under the weight of a gallon water jug, the Castlerock table held up a cook stove, water bottle and more without buckling. Padfoot, our granddog, did say it was perfect animal height to eat his dinner without dirt and critters invading his bowl.

The table wasn’t what I call lightweight, certainly not ultraweight weighing in at 3.3 pounds, so I would not carry it in a backpack. But it wasn’t as heavy as the roll-out aluminum table I usually use. The table can hold as much as 33 pounds of food, drinks and board games on its rigid 22-inch by 16-inch fabric surface, according to the Dakine website. After use, only a little wrangling was required to put it away in its heavy-duty fabric carrying bag.

It seems in the case of these Dakine adventure products, you truly get quality for the price. The products make me rethink my buy cheap and break it philosophy.