The appalachian trail is a tough place to learn lessons about shoes. Shoes are the most important piece of gear to any thru hike and figuring out the right ones for your feet has proved trickier than it may seem. No wonder they are the most talked about piece of gear on trail.
When lil Bell and I first started the trail, in February, we were wearing hiking boots. These were important for the cold winter weather we were walking through. And they lasted us 800 miles. Bell was wearing Lowa Renegade and I was wearing Vasque St. Elias GTX, which are names that we had to Google. We are both grateful for having these tough boots during the winter.
Though once it became spring, we were the only people still wearing boots and everybody else had some fancy pair of trail runners. to walk by a shelter and be able to hear some of the conversations about shoes that thru-hikers have you might think you were at some REI showcasing event with a bunch of salesmen. Our boots were great for the time but were also heavy bricks on our feet which is why for thru-hiking most people go with a lighter option.
It became very apparent that we needed new shoes after 800 miles. The wear and tear in our boots offered little more support than shower shoes.
Hoka, Salomon, and Altra are the three most popular brands of trail runners we have heard of on our trip. Altra manufactures what are called ‘zero drop’ shoes. With most shoes the heel is about 5-8millimeters higher than the toe. Zero drop shoes have no difference between the height of the heel and the height of the toe. This shifts the balance of your feet and is supposedly a “more natural way” of walking. Word on the trail is that switching from normal shoes to zero drop shoes can cause hip and calf pain. There is rumors of this switch ruining peoples hike and outfitters will caution you to do it slowly if you do choose to switch mid-hike.
With this in mind we knew not to get the brand Altra due to this being their big selling point. So I got Salomon XA PRO 3D and Bell got Hokas Bondi 7. I lost my shoe in the river about a week into having them. Bell did no research and accidentally got too low of a drop (4mm). This transition confirmed a lot of rumors that we heard about switching shoes on trail. She had intense hip, knee, and calf pain within the first two miles.
Both of us found ourselves in small outfitters that only had one type of shoe in our size. The fancy trail runners didn’t work out for us, and now we are back to basic hiking shoes. Bell is now wearing Oboz Sawtooth II. She actually got a size larger than the boots she started with. Her feet have grown and flattened since starting this journey. She says her feet are looking like pancakes. In review of the Oboz, they are waterproof and not very breathable which isn’t very conducive to the many summer showers that we bath in. As for me, I am now wearing Merrell Moab 2 Ventilator . They are comfortable, a bit slick when it gets wet but has served me well so far and hopefully for miles to come.
From the other side,
Pan & Bell
from the other side 