Now, I’m not totally blaming the marshmallow like Hoka One One shoes for me ending up with a knee brace, cane, and a dent in my leg muscle but I believe the high unstable shoe was at least partly to blame. Would not recommend if you are hiking on uneven terrain. Even though my feet didn’t hurt in them, they tweaked everything else.
After my injury healed, (the dent still remains), I tried the Altra Lone Peaks 1.5 combined with a soft insole. They were close to the ground, no heal lift, and a big wide toe box.
Love them— I can put in a 30 mile day and not have feet that scream at me. But then….they changed the shoe. So, I bought every pair in my size I could find.
One thing I really dislike about the Altra’s Lone Peaks is the very loose weave of the shoe. Even while wearing gaiters, my feet were as filthy and dried out as if I had been walking in sandals. On the Oregon Coast Trail, they would fill with sand but I couldn’t just empty the shoes cause the sand would be inside the weave so I’d have to beat the shoes together for like 10 minutes to empty them and then they would start filling up again.
The loose weave made me long for a water-proof version. I don’t mind my feet getting wet but I like water-proof shoes cause they keep my feet clean and moist so my feet don’t dry out and crack.
I’m on my last pair of the 1.5’s. Looking at the new ones I was happy to see they now come in a water-proof version. It looks like the new shoe is a little higher than the old ones (which for the above reasons I feel is a mistake). They are however, feeling great on my little 7 mile walks but it’s hard to tell till I hit the trail. I have high hopes.
One more cool thing about these shoes is they have a little hidden splotch of velcro on the back of the heel for securing Dirty Girl Gaiters.
