A versatile backpack, a lightweight sleeping bag, and an all-purpose jacket ready for spring and summer storms: This is what our members are trying out right now.
I usually favor nimble hiking shoes, so I was initially apprehensive about the Exohike Retro Hiker’s thick leather upper and burly construction. Indeed, I found it a little stiff to start, but as I traipsed down the trail on my first outing in the boot a 5-mile hike up to the Headwall Lakes in Alberta, Canada I began to enjoy the amount of stability and support offered by a boot this light (under 2 pounds per pair).
The star feature is the Michelin outsole. On another outing, I noticed excellent traction on a 16-mile mix of paved paths, gravel trails, snow, ice, and dry, grassy ups and downs around Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. The roughly rectangular lugs are spaced far enough apart and slanted in such a way that gravel and mud slough right off. I especially appreciated it on the ball-bearing gravel slopes, and the boot made quick and secure work of the hills.