Big time hiker/backpacker here. Tons of miles on tons of trails. Unless you are hiking in legit winter conditions, ditch hiking boots. Embrace trail runners and damp feet. They won’t be BIFL, but a good pair of trail runners will last about 300-500 miles. Boots like LaSportiva, Asolo, Scarpa, etc may get 1,000 miles, but also cost 2.5x as much. If you’re hiking, no footwear is going to be even close to BIFL. So it’s really a wash either way.

Information for anyone curious here, here, here, and especially here.

If you’ve never hiked in trail runners, give it a shot! If you’re working in the boots, that’s a different story. Like, trail maintenance, or farm work, or whatever else. But if you’re just hiking, you don’t need boots. Unless it is proper gnarly winter.