Thinking about hitting the trails this fall? Not sure which brand of shoe to go with? We've got you covered. We've done the dirty (and fun!) work for you and hit the trails wearing some of the best trail shoes on the market today. Here's what we found:
Brooks Cascadia 16 (Sasquatch collection): First impression - Love the look. Love the colors. This is a narrow shoe (which is perfect for my narrow feet) that hugs my feet very well. The Cascadia has great tread and a ballistic rock shield to help protect the foot from rocks and roots, yet the shoe is light (10.5 oz) and has a fast road running feel to it. This is definitely the shoe I would choose to wear for a trail race. When I'm looking at trail shoes, I'm looking for a tough, durable shoe with great tread that is comfortable to wear on the trails. The Cascadia 16 checks all of those boxes.
HOKA Speedgoat 5: First impression - Love the hot color. Nice support and cushion. Felt like more of a road shoe than a trail shoe. The Speedgoat has a wide toe box and wider overall profile in general, which is typical of the HOKA brand, yet is surprisingly light at 10.3 oz. The Speedgoat 5 boasts a Vibram grip with a 5mm tread that works very well on the trails, especially on loose gravel. Because of the width and size, this shoe is less of a racing shoe and more of a long, easy trail run shoe. Sign me up for that!!
New Balance Fresh Foam X More Trail v2: First impression - love the look. Love the Fresh Foam feel. Kind of a mid sized shoe or happy medium shoe...certainly not a minimalist shoe or a wide long run shoe. Very durable and protective with the Vibram sole yet still weighs only 11.4 oz. The amount of Fresh Foam is surprising (to me) for a trail shoe, making it very comfortable. This New Balance had a good combination of trail shoe characteristics (good tread/grip and tough midsole) yet the Fresh Foam gave it the comfort of a road shoe. Two thumbs up on this one.
Saucony Peregrine 12: First impression - definitely a minimalist trail shoe. Super light at 9.7oz with a very rugged and stiff midsole and outsole. Definitely the most impressive tread and lug length/design I've ever seen in a trail shoe, which makes it perfect for trails with an abundance of rocks or roots. If I'm running a short trail race, this would be my go to shoe, but given it's lack of cushion, I'm not sure I would want to put a lot of miles on this shoe.
Brooks Caldera 6: First impression - This is the biggest and widest shoe I've ever put on! At 11.5cm wide in the toe box and 10.5cm wide in the heel (vs the HOKA Speedgoat being 11.0cm wide in the toe box and 10.0cm wide in the heel), it is definitely built for long, easy runs. But the width doesn't mean it's heavy, as it's still only 11 oz thanks to it's nitrogen-infused foam technology. All of this with a rubber outsole and tread you'd expect from a quality trail shoe.
So which trail shoe would I choose? For starters, while they were both very comfortable and had plenty of cushion, the Brooks Caldera 6 and the HOKA Speedgoat 5 were a little bit too bulky for my taste. On the other end of the spectrum the Saucony Peregrine 12 had too little drop, too many minimalist qualities and just not enough cushion in the shoe for me. Out of all of these fantastic shoes, the two winners for me were the New Balance Fresh Foam X More Trail v2 and the Brooks Cascadia 16. If I'm training for a trail race where speed is important, I'm going with the Brooks. But for all around comfort, feel and size (with just enough of a speed feel), I'm choosing the New Balance.
I absolutely loved hitting the trails in all of these shoes and feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to do so. Full disclosure there are affiliate links within this blog post. Any commission I receive allows me to purchase new shoes and gear to review them and share my thoughts via the blog.
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