Hiking Boots for S. Utah
 

Well here is a dumb question. We will be making the circle tour of Bryce, Zion, Arches, Capitol Reef in last may-early june.We will be hiking but probably not "back country" or anything too treacherous. Should I plan to pack hiking boots or will Teva's or sneaker's do?

hiking boots.

I agree, definitely take hiking boots.

I wore sneakers, which was fine for me, but it took months to get the red dirt and mud to wash out. Next time, I will probably go with a multi-purpose shoe, like Merrell. Don't hike in the Teva's.

Not Tevas, that's for sure. Your feet need some protection.

Hiking boots are good, but you would also be fine with a high-quality hiking sneaker. For the record - I can't decide myself which I prefer! - I've hiked these areas with both good quality hiking boots and with good quality hiking sneakers & been happy with both.

I bought a pair of Montrail Leona Divides (not sure if they make this particular model anymore) before a trip to Moab. These are a sneaker, but with several different gripping compounds on the sole. They also have a plate in the sole to keep rocks from hurting your feet. And, they were breathable. Very serviceable shoe. (Actually, my hiking boots are also Montrails - I'm happy with them, but different brands fit and work for different people differently. I've also been happy with Lowa in the past.)

If you are just day hiking, you may not need the support - or want to deal with the weight - of a hiking boot.

For most of the parks you mentioned plain hiking shoes will be plenty. I wore my tevas many times. If you stay on the paths you wont have any trouble.Paul

We wore Teva sandals and Teva hiking shoes (not boots) during the same timeframe in 2004. Those worked great for us, and we probably did wear the sandals more. In Zion and Bryce, we wore the sandals exclusively.

Enjoy your trip--you'll be seeing some beautiful country!

My son wore a pair of cross-country running training shoes (designed for both woods and road work). He had no complaints.

I'm like KMK, I've used both my Coleman hiking boots and my trusty leather reebok walking shoes and it's hard to say which I like better.

What every you bring, make sure you have broken them in, you don't want to get blisters!

Happy hiking!

Utahtea

Diane,
Utahtea gave you the best advice on this thread:

"What every you bring, make sure you have broken them in, you don't want to get blisters!"

AMEN! ;-)

You don't need *real* hiking boots-hiking shoes (the lightweight breathable kind) will be fine. Even supportive sneakers would probably be fine as long as you weren't going too terribly far (my feet would get tired if I wore them on an all day hike). I have actually even done SHORT (less than 3 miles) hikes in Teva in southern Utah and it was fine, but my feet love Tevas so I wouldn't recommend that for everyone. If you're just talking about doing the short, popular type of National Park hikes that are less than 3 or 4 miles, just wear whatever is comforable and supportive.

Thank you all. I am excited about our trip and our itinerary. I will re-post when we return and share how everything went.