Are hiking poles beneficial for use in hiking the Utah national parks?

I basically agree with with Nathan. On fairly level, well maintained trails, poles are of marginal value. Many people do use them, because they do take *some* weight of the legs, but I tend to find them more of a hassle - just more stuff to deal with. But when hiking up and down steep trails, they can be of enormous value. You can use the poles to support most of your body weight when stepping up or down, which takes a huge amount of stress off your legs, especially with a heavy backpack. At 58, I completed a hike down and back up the Tanner Trail in the Grand Canyon, and I can safely say it would have been pretty much impossible without the poles.

I used them while hiking in Capitol Reef, and they were very useful - especially for multi-day backpacking. For some of the major parks like Zion and Bryce, if you're just looking to explore the more established packs, poles aren't necessary because the trails themselves are typically well-maintained. But for rockier terrain I recommend them. The biggest benefit of poles is that you can create a rhythm with your hiking, which is always nice. And of course they really do help navigate tricky rivers and absolutely helps going downhill, and can serve to save your knees.

fyi! some airlines won't let you carry on poles as they consider them to be dangerous! this was a surprise to me because i even called ahead and asked. And added $50 carry-on fee to the cost of my trip!