awesome design, quality, and durability from the North Face

By Justin Buckles Ranked #471 - Men's Trail Run Shoes December 30, 2008

I was pleasantly surprised at the durability, ,features, comfort, and overall quality of the North Face's "Ultra 104 GTX XCR" trail runners. I purchased these primarily as a light hiking and backpacking shoe and am pleased to announce that these definitely surpassed my expectations! First of all, they are extremely comfortable due to the "Northotic" insole, generously spacious width, and ability to customize your lacing system, via regular and wide-based lacing eyelets. I've hiked up to about 18 miles per day in these shoes, including a backpacking trip up Harney Peak and have never felt any discomfort. Secondly, the gore-tex lining in these shoes makes them my personal favorite pair of hikers when the weather is expected to take a turn for the worse. They are surprisingly warm and extremely waterproof. I noticed that another reviewer mentioned them being treacherous on tile floors and other slick surfaces, which I must agree with. Seeing as these are hikers and not really intended for indoor use, I did not deduct any points from my rating for the tile floors or wet slick cement. However, I've noticed that traction is somewhat lessened when crossing streams and creeks on moss and algae covered rocks (This is why I gave them 4 stars) Lastly, I've found that these shoes work pretty well for caving. I've taken them on several caving expeditions through Wind Cave and I've found that they work very well, as they allow for more dexterity in your ankles to move around, not to mention great traction; this was a great durability test for them as well, because caving shreds shoes and boots to pieces after awhile, but these guys don't have a single tear in them.

View Details: The North Face Ultra 104 GTX XCR Trail Running Shoe - Men's

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