An Ode to My Mid Cut Trail Runners – The Best of Both Worlds?

Back in January, Explorer Casey Fung asked, ‘hiking boots or trail runners – which are better?’ To which Ally responded, ‘por que no los dos?’.

Cue my most liked comment of all time on social media. Yes, it was only 30 likes (and counting!), but I felt inspired enough to attempt to convince you all to sit on the fence with me. 

When we were all stuck in our houses in 2020 – and possibly in some kind of delusional state – I decided to section hike the Continental Divide Trail as soon as we broke out.

The CDT is the least popular trail in the US thru-hiking Triple Crown, after the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail, spanning 4,270km and stretching from Montana in the north (full of bears!) to New Mexico in the south (full of snakes!). 

Read more: What I Learned Preparing to Hike the Pacific Crest Trail

All the gear for a few months on the trail. Yellow NOT optional

I’m not an American, but in the States you refer to your walk as a hike, refer to wilderness areas as ‘the backcountry’, and lean into having a trail name. Mine is Pickles – because every time anyone saw me, I was snacking on pickles.

I’d never attempted anything of this scale, and I quickly realised that my trusty ol’ hiking shoes weren’t going to do the job. I needed shoes light enough to not feel like bricks on my feet at the end of a long day of walking, day after day. 

Sporting the mid cut trail runners in Yellowstone National Park

They needed to be suitable for all environments and grippy enough to run away from bears. (Joking! We do not run away from bears, it triggers their prey response.) 

They also had to be tough enough to help me carry everything I needed to survive on foot for months on end. 

Does such a shoe exist?

Long distance hikers were asking the same question as Casey: boots or trail runners? The tradeoffs were weight, durability, and ankle support, but most were seeming to land on trail runners. 

I should note here that most long distance hikers are 15-20 years younger than me, with youthful muscles and joints that might need less support. 

Read more: Hiking Boots Vs Trail Runners

Despite a lifetime of walking and soccer, my ankles have held up pretty well, so support wasn’t my main priority. I wear my gear quite lightly and I knew there would be opportunities to replace my footwear along the trail if something wasn’t working, so durability wasn’t a huge concern. 

With a little healthy skepticism, I trusted the advice of those who had gone before, and landed on the side of trail runners. 

Aside from weight, one of the main advantages was that trail runners could get wet and then dry reasonably quickly. I was going to be doing a lot of river crossings, far from anywhere, and I hated the idea of doing them barefoot – prescient, as my bestie ended up suffering a hike-ending* foot injury doing a shoeless river crossing three days’ walk from a road. 

Hands up if you love fence sitting!

I was searching for cheap prior-season Altra Lone Peaks, a hiker favourite. As I scrolled, there they were: the Altra Lone Peak Hiker**. A grippy, semi-supportive mid cut khaki wonder weighing a grand total of 281 grams per shoe (if you ask nicely, I’ll show you my crazy hiker spreadsheet). 

I tested my new hybrid boot trail runner blend on a couple of shakedown hikes in Bouddi National Park and Morton National Park. They were supportive, functional, and immediately comfortable, with no rubbing or blisters on any part of my feet. 

No blisters, ever

This turned out to be as true after 1,000km as it was after 100km. They carried me through without a foot or ankle injury, providing sufficient grip and support without weight, and thrived doing everything from freezing river crossings to desert exploration, and one dramatic fall into a bog the size of Canberra. 

I’m happy to report that I did see four bears, and survived to tell the tale. 

I love my mid tops so much that when they eventually started to come apart back home, I bought the next generation to replace them. I can’t bear to throw out the originals yet, because they’ve done such excellent service. They’re sitting on the shelf in my garage with my bear canister, slowly disintegrating and reminding me of the incredible adventure that they made possible.

*I patched him up and he did walk out, but he was in a bad way.

** This model is now discontinued, so Ally is looking at some similar zero drop options like the Xero Scrambler Mid II