Most breathable, wide fit, shoes or boots

I have the same problem with feet being too wide for the European shoe makers and my feet tend to sweat in anything with goretex.

I have settled on hoka one one shoes for anything from quick trail runs in Ohio to a thru hike on the AT. I used the Challenger atr for my AT thru and I recently got a pair of speedgoats for a CT thru hike this year (more aggressive soles than the Challenger) and I quite like them so far.

If you’re wanting mid height mostly for debris management you could try a pair of trail running gaiters like dirty girls or similar.

I would still suggest Merrill, the Moabs. I get the low-cut but there are mid height shoes too. There are waterproof and non. I use the non. They fit my wide feet nicely, and are breathable.

Kelly

I have those Minimus in your picture and while the fabric is very open, the sole allows more heat from the walking surface to warm up my feet and thus feel hotter than most other shoes I’ve tried. They also do not feel very wide because of the weird rubber overlay across the front. I have very wide feet and have to buy men’s EE width to have comfortable shoes. Altras are not wide enough. Merrell Moabs are wide enough for me without a wide width. I don’t really find them to be all that breathable, but not as much heat rises up from the trail bed through the sole.

An update: I went for a pair of Hi-Tech (they’re a popular brand in UK) V-Lite Rapid.
Although described as “sandals” they’re actually fully enclosed shoes. Essentially, it’s a shoe where the uppers are mostly made out of mesh.

After a 40 miles hike, in the best summer you can get in Britain, I surely appreciated the ventilation those shoes offered. And the soles proved to be grippy enough to deal with grass and rocks when wet.

All good there, but what’s the drawback?

Well, seasoned hikers won’t have soft feet as me, because we had to shorten the last part of the hike due to (my) sore feet and a blister.
Those shoes run a bit large -which is usually a good thing for me- and I made two big mistakes: the first was to remove the original insole for a very soft foam insole (hence my toebox had almost zero support), the second was to use light socks and leaving the laces not tight enough (pair this with the lack of support, there you go with a blister!).
I was glad to find a well-stocked outdoor store in a small town we passed by, to get some good insoles. That made a big difference, and lesson learned!

FWIW: here’s  the average type of terrain we had to deal with, nothing extreme but enough to require more than just an “approach shoe”.

Those Hi-tek shoes look really cool. Your feet probably turn all black with dust getting in but that’s okay. My feet turned black with dust every day on the PCT and it was fine.

. Altra Lone Peak Hiker Hiking Boots – Women’s . or Topo Athletic Trailventure Hiking Boots – Women’s or would a regular trail runner work and gaiters to keep debris out. I don’t know how wide your feet are but I wear the Altra men’s since they are wider than the women’s, everyone’s feet are different so you may just have to try different ones on.

You might want to look at the Oboz Sawtooth II, which comes in low & mid heights and waterproof & non-waterproof versions. It’s a similar type of shoe to the Merrell, but the fit might be different enough to work for your feet.

You mentioned debris – Dirty Girl gaiters are super light and flexible, over a trail running shoe. https://dirtygirlgaiters.com