Looking for the best women’s hiking boots on the market? The best hiking boots for you will be boots that fit your foot and your hiking boot needs. It’s important to remember that the best boot that works for me, isn’t what works for everyone. Still, here are some of the best hiking boot options on the market:

why this blog? Hi there! I’m Maddy, and I’ve worked as an outdoor guide in the Midwest since 2018! Find all my available trips for summer 2025 here 🙂 When I’m not guiding, I work as a freelance outdoor writer. This means that I’ve had a lot of time and opportunity to explore and test gear. Beyond guiding and writing, I’ve also worked hands on in outdoor retail and used all of these boots on trail myself!

oh hey there! this article uses affiliate links. that means if you choose to make a purchase, i make a small kickback at no additional cost to you.

Best Women’s Hiking Boots:

From hiking sandals to trail runners, to heavy-duty hiking boots, here are the best women’s hiking boots on the market:

1) Oboz Bridger Mids: Best Heavy-duty hiking boots

I’ve used the same pair of Oboz Bridger Mids for five years and over 1,200 trail miles, and have exclusively positive things to say. The wide toe box is great for swelling on long hikes and the ankle support is genuinely helpful without feeling overly stiff. The traction is good on mud and wet rock, and they’re warm enough to wear on colder hikes without becoming too hot in the summer.

When working in outdoor retail, I pretty much never had anyone try on these boots and leave without buying them. If you’re going to take a chance on a pair of hiking boots online, the Oboz Bridger Mids are a good bet. The Bridger Mids are also noted for being a good shoe for folks who need a wider toebox and hikers with foot pain. Basically, the Oboz Bridger Mids are the number one best women’s hiking boot on the market.

Bottom line on the Oboz Bridger Mids:

• Best bang for your buck longevity wise: this will be the last boot you buy for years.
• Comfortable and designed to be “blister proof”. (This has not been my experience but I blister easily, and I only blister in these on 15+ mile days).
• Potential con: these boots are heavy, meaning for crushing miles on well-worn trails, you might want to consider a trail runner instead or….

2) Keen Zionics: Best lightweight hiking shoes

Keen Zionics are a compromise between a trail runner and a full hiking boot. The Zionics have the ankle support of the full boot minus the weight of the full boot. They dry very quickly, and breathe well. My only real reservation about the Keen Zionics is that the traction is pretty weak, even just on smooth rock.

You’ll also want to size slightly down. I usually wear a size six and size my hiking boots up to a 6.5 to account for swelling, but with these the 6.5 was too big.

Bottom line for the Keen Zionics:

• lightweight and quick-dry
• size down, and not ideal traction

Hiking Boots or Trail Runners: which is better?

Whether to hike in Hiking Boots or Trail Runners is one of the most hotly debated hiking boot questions! Thru-hikers tend to prefer trail runners: they’re lighter on your feet and subsequently lighter on the back and they dry more quickly. BUT this comes with a trade off– trail runners tend to have inferior traction compared to traditional hiking boots, less ankle support, and wear through much more quickly. On paper, trail runners are cheaper. In the long run, a sturdy pair of hiking boots is cheaper and less wasteful.

On the other hand, hiking boots are heavier on the foot and back, and often do not dry quickly.

Ultimately, it’s up to you whether hiking boots or trail runners is better for your hiking. In living both on the West Coast and in the Northern Great Lakes, one thing I’ve noticed is that in the PNW trails are a lot wider and more heavily-trafficked, so the traction issue in trail runners is less noticeable. Meanwhile in the Northern Great Lakes hikes like the Superior Hiking Trail or Border Route are so infrequently trafficked, muddy, rooted-out, and with loose rock that the hiking boots really just make a lot of sense for protecting your feet alone.

3) Teva Hurricane: Best hiking sandal

Another popular option for hiking is a pair of Teva Hurricanes, which are great for warm weather hiking when you’re likely to trek through the water! Pair with socks for some extra protection and hike on!

I wore Hurricanes for most of my 70-day sea kayaking trip in British Columbia and they were a really great choice for a trip that involved both travel by water and plenty of hiking! While not ideal for longer treks (think longer than five or six miles), a shoe like the Hurricanes is a good hiking shoe for beach-y hikes and warm weather with plenty of playing and swimming involved.

Teva Hurricane bottom line:

• Good traction, good for beach hiking
• Open-toed, not ideal for longer hikes

4) Bedrocks: Best River Shoe

For the best hiking shoe to also wear on the river look no further than the Bedrock sandal. Ideal traction and tough as nails, plus the unique strap setup lends to some super cool tan lines. These are the shoes I wear pretty much the entire time I’m out guiding overnight sea kayaking trips, both on the water, at camp and even on the hiking trips!

Bedrocks Sandals Bottom line:

• Great for river trips, canoeing, and kayaking
• Totally fine for hiking mid distances if you’re comfortable hiking open-toed
• Takes some time to get used to the strap cut

5) Merrell Moab: Best low-rise hiking boot

I’ve owned two pairs of Merrell Moabs: one was my first ever hiking boot that I wore when I was just getting into backpacking. Eventually after about four years of heavy use the sole fell out while hiking. The second pair I picked up in pristine condition from a thrift store and wore them guiding in the San Juan Islands when on land and at camp; these deteriorated from the salt water entirely in one season.

This isn’t to say that the Moabs are poorly made and will fall apart, but that did happen twice to me far before the Oboz counterpart, which is still kicking. That said, here are some things I liked about the Moabs:

Merrell Moab bottom line:

• comfortable for long-distances and soft on the foot
• great traction
• good for walking long distances and comfortable to wear around
• don’t seem to last very long

what does “waterproof” mean for hiking boots?

Waterproofing on hiking boots, in my opinion, isn’t super relevant and rather just a way to sell boots. Waterproofing is generally a type of material or treatment applied to the outside of hiking boots. It seems obvious, but if rain runs down your leg and into the boot, or if your feet sweat, or if you step into a puddle and water goes over the top of the boot and inside, your feet will be wet. A lot of reviews (and returns when I worked in outdoor retail) on boots were from people who didn’t understand that waterproofing doesn’t apply to submerging your foot.

Consider the amount of moisture you expect to encounter on your hike when choosing a shoe. A trail runner or lightweight shoe is always going to dry faster than a boot. If you’re hiking somewhere warm and wet, think about hiking sandals or trail runners. If you’re hiking somewhere with a wide, well-worn trail with river crossings you will probably want trail runners. If you’re hiking somewhere muddy with lots of rocks and tree rocks and a little colder, perhaps hiking boots make the most sense.

6) Brooks Trail Runners: Best trail runners

If you’re looking for a good pair of trail runners to get the job done both on your weekend jogs and hiking in the woods, check out the Brooks Cascadia trail runners. These shoes have really awesome traction for such a lightweight shoe and dry quickly. They’re a little stiff to wear at first, but ultimately a really solid pair of trail runners.

Brooks Cascadia bottom line:

• lightweight, quick dry, simple trail runner
• size up slightly

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explore more beginner hiking resources below⤵️

• Are you a gearing up for your summer road trip, because same! Check out the ultimate road trip planning guide, complete with easy meal ideas for on the road, what to pack and how to packing + route planning tips
• Check out the basic beginner’s hiking checklist
• Finding women’s hiking pants are a nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are the best women’s hiking pants (that AREN’T leggings because lets be so for real)

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