The 5 Best Hiking Shoes for Wide Feet

The women's Moab 3 shares the men's shoe's shape — broad through the ball, snug at the heel — but it's cut on a women's last, which is the difference between a wide shoe that fits and a men's wide that's the right width in the wrong places. If you've been buying men's shoes to get the width, this is the pair to try first.

What we keep coming back to is how little it asks of you. It runs true to size with a toe box that leaves real room in front of the toes, and it goes the distance from the first wear rather than after a break-in period. Grip on gravel and wet rock is confident, and the shoe stays stable underfoot on the way down.

Order your normal size rather than sizing up for socks; the lacing handles a thicker sock, and a longer shoe on a wide foot is how you end up with a heel that lifts. For the woman who has been making do with a men's wide, this is the easiest recommendation in the guide.

The Targhee 3 has a sizing problem, and it's worth leading with: the same size has turned up fitting differently from one pair to the next, and fit is the most divided topic on this shoe anywhere in the group. Buy from somewhere with a real return window, walk around indoors, and don't cut the tags until you're sure.

Past that, the front of the shoe is why it's here. The toe box is tall as well as wide, so a broad forefoot and a high instep stop pressing against the top of the upper, and the rubber bumper wraps up over the toes — the thing that saves a mesh toe on rocky ground. The waterproof build handles mud and wet grass, and it runs warmer than an unlined shoe because of it.

Underfoot it's structured and on the stiff side, which is what you want when the trail is loose and uneven and less welcome on a flat path where a flexible shoe feels quicker. At the top of the price range, this is the pick for someone who wants protection over light weight: a bumper, a membrane, and a platform that doesn't fold over a stone.

The Firebrand II is the most expensive shoe in this guide, and the only one built like a boot cut down to low height: nubuck leather and mesh over a board-lasted platform, a B-DRY membrane behind it, and a molded rubber cap over the toe. We think the money shows up underfoot rather than on the label.

The insole is the part we didn't expect to care about. It's a triple-density EVA bed with cushioned pods at the heel and forefoot and a deep heel cup — the kind of footbed you normally buy separately and drop into a shoe that came with flat foam. Add the stiffness of the platform and you get a shoe that holds a wide foot steady on a side-slope and under a loaded pack.

The trade for that hard-wearing rubber is grip on smooth wet stone, the one surface where this shoe has less bite than the softer-soled picks here. And the width is honest rather than generous: it comes in wide sizes, but the leather is what makes the difference, giving and stretching to your foot over the first few weeks. Buy your normal length and let it come to you.

Not everyone needs a mountain shoe, and this is the one for everyone else. If you want a single wide, waterproof pair for the trailhead, the dog and the grocery store, the Fairbanks Low is the least expensive shoe here and one of the lightest.

The sole is flat and only lightly cushioned — closer to a canvas sneaker than to the structured picks above — and that's the whole decision. On pavement, gravel paths and long days on your feet it's comfortable and stable; on loose rock and roots you feel every one of them, and it's the shoe here we trust least on a rough descent. We treat it as a walking shoe with a lugged outsole.

Two practical notes. The regular width is roomy through the toe box and a wide fit is available too, though the sides can feel snug until they break in. And a new pair smells strongly of rubber and adhesive — leave them on the porch for a few days before you wear them anywhere enclosed.