Oldschool thinking and debates
1) high top vs. low top
2) waterproof (GTX) vs. non waterproof
Some say, and I believe it to be true - that the oldschool thinking of super heavy all leather hiking boots is a thing made up by the shoe manufacturers to make you buy more expensive boots. I have been transitioning from heavier footwear to lighter over time. The ultralight thinking nowadays says that the lighter the shoe, the less tiring you will be at the end of the day and super heavy boots do not give much (if any) advantage. I have strong ankles and it is said that mid high boots don't even give any ankle support - at best they just keep pebbles out of your shoes.
Same with the waterproof (or 'breathable' GTX) liners. My feet sweat alot even when cold. The waterproof/breathable liners just make my feet wet from sweating. Why fight it? That, and as anyone that has had footwear with liners knows, the liners rarely stay waterproof with any decent mileage on them. I have changed my thinking on this as well, and am opting for some well-ventilated shoes. The other thing is water crossings. Some people prefer to change footwear to sandals or the like while crossing then switch back on the other side, but this is very time consuming. A liner shoe will just trap all that water and give no chance of draining. Well vented shoes will just drain out. I spent some time researching what through hikers have to say about this and many agree that you just plow through the crossings with your hiking shoes and if they have provisions for draining, your shoes will be mostly dry at the end of the day. In any case you should switch to dry socks and alternate footwear around camp. In the morning if need be, put your damp socks and shoes on again and hit the trail.
Wide Feet
I never really considered my feet to be wide width in the past, just on the large side of regular width. I've never had to purposely buy wide width shoes for the last forty some years. But I have had some issues while hiking/backpacking, namely that my small toe gets pushed over my second smallest toe with most hiking shoes, creating a blister/callus. I didn't really think this had to do with the width of the shoe, just something that happened and I had to deal with it. But my feet are slightly on the wide side I have come to realize. I have been cycling through a bunch of hiking boots and none seem to fit just quite right. Yet another issue I have is I seem to have low volume feet. This means in many brands of footwear me feet slop around and/or I have to cinch the laces until the two sides are almost toughing for my feet to feel secure.
The truth is different brands and models of hiking footwear are made to different widths. And frequently as well, as well as strangely I find, especially for something as paramount as fit for hiking, each model of footwear frequently does not even come in a selection widths, many just in a regular width... which again means something different to different brands.
If you search for wide hiking footwear you actually don't get much on this topic. I've gone through though a bunch of different footwear and hopefully have found something that I love in my new Merrell Moab Ventilator wide width shoes.
Wide hiking shoes... there's not as many manufactures for this as you'd think. Keen in regular width have a good width toebox, but the models I have had in the past leave some things to be desired on the durability side, as well as being able to cinch tightly and feel secure/no rubbing on downhills. Salomon - I like their designs, light weight and construction, but they are just too narrow and no wide widths. North Face - again too narrow. Lowa - I went through two sets of Lowa renegades in the past when they only came in one width, and I loved them, but they were too heavy, and also too narrow. Their designs nowadays seem to heavy across the board.
So I settled on the wide Merrell Moab Ventilator wide version low cut. These are tried and true, have been on the market a while and there's some people that absolutely love them. I've also had Merrells in the past and they were definitely too narrow. But these wide versions feel right, at least new. Certainly not ultra wide, but just about right for my feet, and also cinch tight without reefing on the laces. I've heard Asolo and New Balance also make some wider width shoes.
I'm looking forward to testing these out in the Appalachians as well as trekking in Iceland in the next couple months and hope they will fit the bill for what I want in some footwear. They are still a tad on the heavier side with beefy soles and reinforcement... possibly in the future, I will transition even lighter to trail shoes but these look great for now.
Update: I just got back from a rugged backpacking trip 42km over Algonquin Peak and Mount Marcy, and these are by far the best boots for my feet yet. They dry fast and the treads are very grippy - great on exposed rock surfaces and the lugs are deep enough to maintain stability in soft mud. I did switch out the footbeds with SOLE response footbeds which I highly recommend over any stock footbeds.
Here's a good read on why to ditch your boots:
http://www.cleverhiker.com/blog/ditch-boots
