Walking boots online store right now: With great out-of-the-box comfort, the KEEN Targhee line is an extremely popular boot for day hiking and easy to moderate backpacking trips. The Targhee III has been on the market for a while now—it was released back fall of 2017—but it offers solid bang for your buck. The boot has a surprisingly tough build with a good-sized toe cap and leather upper, moderately wide fit, and a collar height that sits just high enough on the ankle to provide decent rollover protection. Keep in mind that the Targhee III still is a clear step down in stability and ankle support from a boot like the Lowa Renegade above, but it offers sufficient stability and grip for most subalpine adventures. The Targhee’s main competitor is the Merrell Moab 3 above, and both models have been top sellers for years. The Targhee is more durable overall with its leather construction, but the Moab matches it in trail comfort, keeps you cooler with its mesh design, and costs $30 less (note: KEEN recently upped the price of the Targhee from $165 to $175). That price difference gives the edge to the Moab on our list, but the Targhee remains a solid choice, and particularly for those with wide feet. Read additional info at walking boots.
The Merrell Moab 3 Mid WP – Women’s offers excellent value across the board. Designed as a day hiker and moderate backpacking boot, it can go with you on most adventures. It features a comfortable and easy-to-break-in design and generous padding in the ankle shaft. It has excellent durability with several mesh panels spaced between the leather infrastructure. The new and improved Vibram sole offers sufficient traction on all types of trail surfaces, making it a great high-value option for most adventures. While we love the value and comfort of this boot, we don’t love the lacing system, which lacks durability. In addition, the boot is heavier than many of its rivals. Still, it functions well for most adventures, including backpacking, with a lower impact on your wallet than most other hiking boots on the market.
The X Ultra 4 Mid GTX is designed like a much burlier boot—high ankle collar, waterproof membrane, mostly leather upper, bomber toe bumper—but it still slides in under the 2-pound mark. “I wore these boots from the Pacific Crest Trail to the top of a Sierra peak and back again, and I almost felt like I was wearing runners,” declared one tester after six days in the Eastern Sierra of California. The X Ultra 4 Mid GTX has a cushy EVA midsole that gives it that running-shoe feel and makes it comfy out of the box. (Added cushioning around the ankle helps too.) It’s augmented with a TPU plate, but though our test samples show no signs of breaking down, we’d be wary of the midsole’s long-term durability after 500 or so miles. As for the X Ultra 4 Mid’s other features, it has a GORE-TEX® membrane for awesome weatherproofing and a flexible proprietary rubber outsole with aggressive, chevron-shaped lugs. Our testers reported that it held fast on granite and mud but faltered a bit in loose gravel. Fit note: Salomon footwear tends to run narrow, but the X Ultra 4 Mid GTX bucks the trend, even pleasing one tester with self-described “Frodo feet.”
The Terrex Free Hiker 2 was a fantastic day hiking option on a recent trip to Patagonia, but it does come with some limitations. The most polarizing is its looks, which land in the love-it-or-hate-it category. A second more substantive concern is durability. Specifically, Adidas opted to leave its Boost foam midsole quite exposed along the outside of the boot. After just a few hikes—albeit on very rocky terrain that involved a fair amount of scrambling and squeezing between boulders—pieces of that exposed midsole are starting to fall off in small chunks. It’s a big enough downside to drop the boot on our list, but as a fun day hiker on less challenging terrain, the Adidas is well worth a look.
Make like a mountain goat when you throw on La Sportiva Nucleo High II GTX, a super nimble yet super supportive leather hiking boot that excels on rougher trails and above treeline. Its high ankle collar and beefy armor protect tootsies—“no issues wedging my toes between boulders when climbing California’s Mount Ritter,” one tester says—but this is no clunker. The Nucleo High II GTX is trim and snugs the foot more like an approach shoe, allowing for precise steps and edging, which our testers appreciated on alpine hikes that require negotiating the path of least resistance. To that end, the Nucleo High II GTX is available in wide sizes—a welcome addition this year for those of us with broader feet.
In general, a hiking boot is designed to be stable, which typically involves a piece of hard plastic inserted between the midsole and outsole, known as a shank. The length of the plastic can vary from just under the arch to the full-length of the boot, depending on intended use. The benefit of a stiff boot is that the heel will not drop on an ascent, which helps reduce calf fatigue. This is why the stiffness of a boot will increase along with its technical abilities, culminating in extremely unyielding mountaineering boots that can better handle long summit pushes. On the other end of the spectrum, some lightweight boots do not have this additional structure, instead resembling a tall, flexible hiking shoe. Read even more info at https://www.trekkit.in/.
What will you be using your hiking boot for? There are a variety of different options out there, but narrowing them down by identifying your intended use is the first step. Are you planning on just day hiking, or will you be backpacking as well? What types of terrain will you be hiking? How does your boot need to perform? Does it need to be breathable or waterproof? These are the types of questions to ask before your search begins, which will help to steer you in the right direction. When you’re heading out for a day hike, the type of footwear you choose depends on the intensity of the hike, how technical it is, and how much weight you are carrying. In some cases, a lightweight hiking boot with minimal ankle support may be all you need. The lighter materials used in lightweight boots make them more flexible and breathable. They also have enough comfort and support to carry substantial loads or just a day pack. Most offer more stability than a hiking shoe or trail runner, but they aren’t as heavy as a midweight hiking boot. If you prefer more stability, even for day hikes, you might want to consider a midweight boot.