What Shoes Should You Hike in?

One of my favorite things to do when it is nice outside is to go hiking! I grew up close to Brown County State Park in Indiana so my family spent a lot of time hiking there. As my siblings and I got older we started visiting different parks across the state and even a few in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. So with all this hiking that my family was doing, it was very important to have good shoes (or some not so good shoes depending on how you look at it). When we were younger we alway just wore our old tennis shoes because they usually ended up muddy and our parents didn’t want us to ruin our nice shoes. As we got older though, having a nice pair of hiking boots became more important. I got my first pair of hiking boots when I was 16. I had developed a love for hiking and decided to invest in a nicer pair of shoes. After shopping around  a little bit, I decided to go with a pair of Merrell’s similar to the ones in the picture below. From the first hike I loved my new hiking boots and was very happy with my purchase! They fit well and provided a lot of extra support that a regular pair of tennis shoes wouldn’t have. 

Even though I loved my hiking boots, my feet got really hot in the summer. Luckily for me I already owned a pair of chacos and started wearing those on hikes. Although my chacos didn’t have nearly the same amount of support as my boots, they were still comfortable enough to go on long hikes in and were secure enough on my foot that they didn’t slide around like most sandals. One issue that I found with hiking in my Chacos was because they are open toed, dirt and other debris from the trails would get in them. With that being said Chacos work great for hiking on well kept trails, but for rougher terrain I would stick with the boots!

If you are someone who spends a lot of time on the trails I would definitely suggest investing in a nice pair of shoes! Whether it is a pair of boots, trail tennis shoes, or chacos it will be worth the money. Everyone has their own style and it is important to find what is right for you, especially when your going to be putting a lot of miles on them. On the other hand if you are someone who only goes hiking every now and then you will probably be ok just wearing an old pair of tennis shoes.