We’ve been big fans of the Hoka One One brand for years now. We’ve especially been loving the Women’s Clifton and Women’s Challenger ATR Trail Running Shoes. We finally gave Hoka’s hiking shoe a try. Here’s our review of the Hoka One One Women’s Challenger Mid Gore-Tex hiking shoe.
HOKA ONE ONE Women’s Challenger Mid Gore-Tex Features
COLORS
Hoka One One shoes often come in several different colorways. In fact, their bright options have almost become synonymous with the brand. Hoka One One takes a different approach with this shoe however and leaves one option: Major Brown / Heather. We appreciate it for it’s ability to blend in with the natural environment we wore it in. We also love that it easily hides dirt and looks better with age.
WIDTHS
Trail enthusiasts everywhere will appreciate that the Hoka One One Women’s Challenger Mid Gore-Tex comes in both a regular width as well as a wide. A wide option is great for hiking, especially for those who like to wear two layers of socks or wear thicker than usual socks. It’s also great for long hikes when your feet may swell.
TREAD
There are 4mm lugs on the bottom of this shoe. They’re not overly knobby so you can wear them from the trail and on into town without feeling clunky. That said, the lugs do a great job of gripping on all kinds of surfaces. We both reported a sense of confidence going up, down and across roots and rocks in these shoes. They also performed great on wet trails giving us plenty of grip and security in our footing.
CUSHIONING
It’s almost a given that these shoes will be superior in cushioning. After all, they’re from the Hoka One One family. Sure enough, these shoes deliver on cushioning, offering a smooth ride no matter what kind of terrain you are covering. They’re not as soft as the Clifton’s we run in. They’re more comparable to the Challenger ATR 5’s. They felt great out of the box and continued to hold up and offer ample protection from sharp rocks and pounding after many, many miles of trails. We also tested these boots wearing a pack of about 25 pounds and they did just fine.
WEIGHT
These boots weigh 12.4 ounces. While they’re heavier than most running shoes, they are still on the lighter side when compared to most other hiking boots.
FIT
This shoe fits slightly larger than our Hoka One One running shoes. That said, it’s the perfect fit it you want to wear thick hiking socks or double socks. We opted for Swiftwick’s Pursuit Light 6 Hiking socks because we love how they wick the sweat away from your feet and help keep you blister free. If you typically wear a wide, we’d recommend ordering a wide with this shoe. If you don’t typically wear a wide but you prefer to wear two pairs of thick hiking socks when trekking, we’d also suggest a wide. In addition to the length fitting us as we had hoped, we are happy to report that the shoe feels comfortable right out of the box and did not require a break in period.
Hoka One One Women’s Challenger Mid Gore-Tex Recap
We recommend Hoka’s Women’s Challenger Mid Gore-Tex for women who are looking for a hiking shoe or boot that will allow them to comfortably and safely hike many, many miles of trails on all different kinds of surfaces. Did we mention this shoe has Gore-Tex and makes it waterproof? It is. This shoe can handle whatever weather mother nature decides to throw at you. For those who have been running in Hoka’s, this will be an easy transition. For those who are new to the Hoka One One family, we have no doubt you’ll be hooked.
Where can you buy the Hoka One One Women’s Challenger Mid Gore-Tex?
You can get these shoes online direct from hokaoneone.com. These shoes, at the time of publication, were not being sold on Amazon.com.