Your Guide to New Balance Women's Hiking Shoes

Hiking is a great way to get exercise, but it can also be a dangerous one if you do not have the proper equipment. Proper shoes are important accessories for safe hiking. Different intensities require different features, and wearing a shoe that does not offer the right features can create numerous complications during a hike. Simply put, the correct shoes help to ensure that your excursion is easy and enjoyable; the wrong footwear, however, can put undue stress on your ankles, leading to pain and possible injury. New Balance offers a wide variety of women's shoes, each of which uses different materials and provides different features to meet each of your hiking shoe needs.

Hiking Intensity
The first step in determining what hiking shoe you should buy is to determine how intense you expect your excursions to be. If you expect your hike to be fairly flat, along prepared trails, a thinner hiking shoe should provide plenty of support while also offering sufficient protection. New Balance offers a line of women's hiking footwear called Minimal shoes. They are low-profile shoes that are lightweight and offer an almost-barefoot feel to the wearer, which maximizes comfort.

If you expect slightly more intense hikes with more severe inclines and rugged terrain, or if you expect to carry a large backpack, you want a shoe that has a higher ankle, which offers more support and protection. New Balance has several styles that provide this level of support. For example, the New Balance 790 and 1569 both have higher ankles that keep legs stable and reduce the risk of injury.


Pronation
When considering shoes, pronation is another key factor in determining support and stability. Pronation refers to how your foot moves when you take a step. With a natural pronation, you start a step on the outside heel and roll slightly inward and forward, ending the step on your big toe. If you start on the outside heel and roll in too far, you are over-pronating; remaining primarily on the outside of your foot as it rolls forward is called under-pronating.

New Balance offers different shoes that address pronating issues by providing additional support to keep your step straight and proper. New Balance Stability shoes offer support for lighter pronation problems while New Balance Motion-Control shoes help support heavier pronation issues. The easiest way to determine your pronation is to study the wear on an old pair of shoes.


Hiking Conditions
While support and stability are imperative factors when choosing shoes, it is also important to consider your comfort as you wear them. Some New Balance women's shoes offer different features that address different conditions to provide maximum comfort for your feet as you hike through the elements.

Wet Conditions
If you expect to be hiking in very wet conditions, whether from rain or river, a waterproof hiking shoe might be best. New Balance style 1569 uses Gore-Tex technology (the same technology you might have in a rain jacket or hat) to provide great protection from wet conditions.

Dry Conditions
On the other end of the spectrum, you may be hiking in conditions that are dry and hot. If this is the case, a shoe with effective ventilation may be the best option to keep your feet dry and comfortable. When shopping for a shoe, look for shoes that offer a lot of mesh in the upper part. This mesh allows the shoes to breathe, providing cool conditions for your feet. Several styles of New Balance hiking shoes provide this level of ventilation. For example, the New Balance Minimus 80 offers an upper shoe created almost completely from mesh.