I am thinking about starting to plan for a thru hike. I have a good amount of backcountry experience, but in the past have always had "luxurious" equipment, which, when food is added, correlated to 60 lb packs. I would frequently do long days of 3000 m + elevation gains and 12 + miles on the same day. I have come to the conclusion that this is ridiculous and causing myself a lot of unnecessary pain, and want to go as light as possible.
I've been thinking about switching to hammock camping, and an ultra light setup. My thinking is that I can cover way more ground if I lighten my load.
All this having been said, I've never once used or felt like I needed trekking poles. However, I have been researching peoples ultra light and hammock setups, and often trekking poles will be used in leu of some tarp/tent pole.
Am I missing out not using trekking poles? Will I need them to support tarps for ultra-light setups? Why do you like or dislike trekking poles?