KEEN Women's Voyageur Low Height Breathable Hiking Shoe

These Keens are comfortable straight out of the box. There is no need to "break them in". Their low profile edge does not rub on your ankle bone. I ordered a size 10; for most shoes, I usually order size 10 or 10.5. This size 10 fits wonderfully; it is perfectly roomy for wider feet when wearing normal thickness socks (I'm sure thick wool socks would be just fine as well). The first time wearing these Keens out of the box, I wore them to travel across the country. These Keens supported my feet through constant airport walking and taking multiple flights. Day 2, I wore them all day long in Disneyland. Day 3, I wore them all day long in Disneyland. Day 4, I wore them to travel through multiple airports with a ton of walking. In conclusion, these Keens are awesome. Their level of comfort is unparalleled. Someone else that was on this trip had Merrells and by day 3, they were complaining that their feet hurt. I am now going to wear Keens everyday. Also, the shoelaces on these Keens are "bumpy" and styled in such a way that you don't have to double knot them to get them to stay tied. I tied the laces at the beginning of the trip and then proceeded to use them like slip on shoes.

Let me preface this review by informing you that I hate shoes. If I can wear sandals of any kind instead of shoes, I will, every time. I dont' like having my feet so constrained. My hiking shoe of choice is the Chaco. I've been everywhere in those. But sometimes you need an actual hiking shoe, like when it's cold. And I am so, so, so glad I got these.I recently ordered these right before a November trip down through Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and the Grand Canyon National Parks - so basically a 3-week trip that is all about hiking. Why would such an avid hiker order a pair of hiking shoes right before a trip without a chance to try them out or break them in first? I'm a huge procrastinator and I was on the fence about it because I have other Patagonia hiking shoes, but I hate wearing them because they are too narrow at the toes and after long hikes, this kills me. But after reading reviews, I put in my order with one-day shipping because that is level of procrastination I practice. They came just in time.The first two days of hiking were with my family right before Thanksgiving, so we did a 1 to 2 mile walk each day. No problem. Didn't even notice my feet. Which is actually a huge compliment because I notice all shoes all the time when I am wearing them. Well, except slippers I guess, but even those I'll only wear if I need the warmth.Then came the unintentional ultimate test that proved to me the true greatness of these shoes. The family had left and we were ready for a real hike. We decided on a 9-mile loop in the Needles area of Canyonlands. The hikes in this area are typically over a mixture of sandstone where the trail is marked by cairns, uneven rocky terrain, and sand. Now I can't say whether it is because my shoes were as brand new as they come and his were old, or just because mine were an overall better shoe, but for scrambling around over rocks and climbing up sometimes steep sandstone boulders/hills, these Keens had WAY better traction than my partner's Merrels - which he swears by. To make a long story short, about halfway into our hike, unpredicted snow started falling - fast. In these areas, it can be hard enough to follow a trail when you can see the ground. This was made exponentially harder by the 10 inches that fell over the next few hours and the darkness that set in. Earlier in the day as I climbed over unbelievably steep surfaces of sandstone like spiderman, I had asked "why do they call this the slickrock area?" I know why now. Since the rocks were still relatively warm from the sun earlier that day, a lot of the snow initially melted, causing a layer of runoff/slush/ice under the deep fluffy snow. These grippy rocks become slippery as could be! Then my shoes really out-shined the Merrels, my much more coordinated partner slipped several times while I remained upright. In the end, our 9-mile loop turned into a 14-mile hike of chaos, cold, wet, darkness for several hours. Since you couldn't see the ground at all, we both stepped in several freezing pools of water a foot or so deep, so the last 4 hours of the hike (it took forever to find our way!) were done in wet shoes. Luckily I had wool socks - my feet were soaked, but warm. And at the end of the longest day ever in non-broken in shoes, I had no blisters, no foot pain whatsoever, not even that typical I've been hiking way too long and my feet are tired feeling. And they dried out super quickly - I set them out near the heater and they were ready for another hike the next morning!So I can't say enough good things about these shoes. When they wear out, I'll be getting a new identical pair.

I'm just so pleased with these shoes. I bought them for a hiking trip that would include about 30 miles over three days. I tried to break them in a little bit before going, but basically they were fresh out of the box when I hit the trails. And by the end of the trip, my body was tired, but my feet felt fine.For the fit- some of the reviews suggested going a half size up. I did not find this to be the case. I'm a pretty true 8, and the 8s in these shoes fit perfectly. There was enough room in it that I didn't feel squeezed, but they weren't so loose that they were slipping around. I really appreciated that the toe box on these is nice and wide. I have wide feet (probably made even wider by being a runner and spending a lot of time in flip flops) and I find most shoes are just too narrow around the ball of my foot. I also thought that the arch support was really solid. I'm pretty picky about that since I have high arches, and I felt that these shoes were really supportive.The treading is great without adding a lot of weight to the shoe. They are great for going over rocks and other sort of slick surfaces. I felt really secure.The only down side was the round shoelaces, which is obviously an easy fix. But seriously, I thought round laces had been outlawed some time ago. They just don't stay tied.Overall, great shoes. I would highly recommend them to anyone who has some moderate mileage coming their way.