ended up with the NF hedgehog trail shoes

Very nice to have the gore-tex on days with wet grass or puddles, but the other 95% of the time my feet baked in them. I'd tend to say you made the right call, but you will find out on your own!

I still like them, but only wear them in the winter now since they are just too darn hot. Nice wide soles and good grip imo. Not my favorite for actually running in, but a good shoe for hiking.

For my money, gore tex is only worth it in the winter when wet =cold. I have some gore tex merrell's and they are great when it's cold but a hot box when it's warm. plus the gore tex won't let your shoes dry out over night as easily if they get wet from a rain during the day.

also, as it relates to shoe salespeople… i was quite surprised to find out that many times the shoe salespeople, and some other sales people in sporting goods stores, don't actually work for the store! they work for the manufacturer! a friend of mine got into a lengthy convo with someone in a shoe section, and it turned out they were factory rep from adidas. they had to sell all brands of shoes, but of course they were biased towards the adidas. apparently this is a pretty common occurance… this was at a national chain sporting good store (i can't name the store because of the content filter here on BPL hahaha), but i wouldn't be surprised to see it happening at some of the larger outdoor-focused stores as well.

My youngest daughter hikes and runs in the Hedgehog…both versions. We get quite a bit of rain, snow and slop around here so her Gore-tex shoes do get some work.

Those are some of the grippiest soles I've seen….boot or trail shoe or trail runner. She likes them…they're comfortable, grippy and durable.

Nice choice.