The Ahnu Westridge trail running shoe offers good support and traction to consistently navigate hard-pack trials that can often be slippery.

The Ahnu Westridge is more of a low-top, traditional hiking, fast walking, and wear ’em all day shoe.  A gusseted tongue keeps debris out and a water resistant mesh holds off external moisture intrusion. The Westridge is a sturdy hiking shoe that laces up very well and tended to be comfortable on long day hikes.

What’s been most impressive about this shoe is that you can wear them for days and not think about any loss of comfort or foot stability. They are as stable and supportive as any low-top trail shoe we have experienced in recent years. We like them as a go-to pair of trail shoes, and they are also used as a comfortable backup pair in the day-pack, when the shoes we’re wearing give us blisters or have to be changed out for any reason.

Although the Westridge is not slated as a trail running shoe, it doesn’t shirk from those five-minute lopes of running we often break into coming down various trails. In general, the Ahnu Westridge mid-sole comfort and support worked great in fast-paced hikes on hard-packed, dirt fire trails and country horse paths.

The shoe’s Vibram outsoles never failed to offer good traction in loose dirt and rocky sections of trail with marble-sized stones. Even on sandy

and loamy sections of fire trail hiking, where steep banking of the trail goes from high to low on the inside of the road, the Westridge offered stable traction.

It is these steep road banks, that while trudging uphill, are the most vulnerable places to lose traction and have your feet slip out from under you. The Westridge offered full support and traction to consistently navigate hard-pack, that often turns slippery. On Forest Service trails, traction and foot comfort remained excellent during several weekly hikes we took the shoes on.

The Ahnu Westridge hikers share the spotlight, with the Ahnu Firetrail Winter shoes, in that we never experienced a blister or hotspot on our feet, regardless of wearing synthetic or natural-material socks.

By Rick Shandley