The 7 Best Men’s Hiking Boots

It used to be that hiking meant wearing hiking boots, office meant wearing office clothes. Nowadays, we’re wearing yoga pants to the office and sweat pants to get groceries. Umm, what does this have to do with hiking? That the hiking look has changed and that you’re probably seeing a lot of other types of shoes on the trails and not just your typical hiking boot. Each person has his own preferences and needs when he’s out on a hike. In general, however, longer hikes with heavier packs involve more supportive and rigid hiking boots for men. Day hikes, on the other hand, could be enjoyed comfortably with light hiking shoes and increasingly more common, trail running shoes. However, there are plenty of long distance hikers who also prefer trail running shoes. Although we can’t tell you which type of footwear best suits your hiking needs, we can tell you our favorite ones for mens hiking boots, low-ankle hiking shoes, and trail running shoes.

Mens Hiking boots have a high cut to give you the ankle support needed for long treks with heavy packs on off-trail terrain that entails lots of rocks, roots, and streams. They also have stiffer midsoles compared to the low-ankle hiking shoes and trail running shoes for extra protection and to absorb the impact especially if you’re carrying a ton and walking lengthy distances. So, if you’re looking for something a bit heavy duty a rough long haul, we’ve listed our top 7 favorite high-cut hiking boots for men to help get you started.

The Best Men’s Hiking Boots are:

Top 7 Products

Comfort and break-in time

Honestly, we prefer trail running shoes to go hiking now. They are more comfortable, lighter, softer, and give better response. But we know plenty of hikers who need or prefer hiking boots over trail running shoes. It’s fair, hiking boots are made for hiking. So we’ve researched the best mens hiking boots out there primarily based on comfort.

Uncomfortable boots just wouldn’t make sense would it? The boot had to give that oh-my-god-best-shoe-ever feel, otherwise we tossed it out of the ranking. So all these boots listed here have that. We didn’t like hiking boots for men that required too much break-in time. A little was okay, it’s expected from the particularly stiffer hiking boots that are really durable and meant for heavy loads.

But we highly ranked the ones that felt good on the first day out even after many miles and elevation gain. Fit also played a huge role in assessing whether the boots ranked highly in comfort. The boots we selected all have the right internal material and design to make the fit feel like it was perfect for your feet.

Traction

Nothing feels worse than going downhill with a heavy pack and worrying about slippery surfaces. So we liked mens hiking boots that offered superb traction, like that sticky, got-gum-under-my-shoe traction. This way we had peace of mind knowing that you won’t have to worry about ice skating on your hike. Superb traction comes from the superior rubber material used for the outsoles combined with the design of the lugs.

Breathability

Waterproof hiking boots can run into breathability issues if they’re made with material that doesn’t breathe well. Some boots are even made with ventilation ports that let air through but not water. We selected mens hiking boots that had minimal breathability issues but are still waterproof.

Durability

We know that some hikers love it when their pair of mens hiking boots last them 10 years. Although it’s a nice plus, we considered pairs in our ranking that would last one or two hiking seasons. It’s not because the boots were made of poor quality, but it was because with use and the way the boots are designed, for example, having areas with comfortable soft mesh, it was only natural that wear and tear would appear sooner.

In fact, trail running shoes, which are the most comfortable of the three hiking footwear we go over, can last a few hundred miles, depending on how hard and where you run. So we decided that a good boot could last a couple seasons and it would still be considered a good boot for us.