OR - Ahnu Sugarpine Trail Shoes - Kathy Waters

Dear Editors,

 

Hope you had a great 4th of July weekend!  Here’s an OR to start your week
off with a bang! J

 

The HTML can be seen at:  http://tinyurl.com/obguqbb and the test is below.

 

Thanks for all the good work that you do!

 

Kathy

 

AHNU SUGARPINE WATERPROOF TRAIL SHOES 

 

Ahnu logo 

 

BY KATHLEEN WATERS

July 5, 2015 

OWNER REVIEW 

 

 

TESTER INFORMATION

 

NAME:         Kathleen Waters

EMAIL:        kathy at backpackgeartest dot com

AGE: 64

LOCATION:            Canon City, Colorado, USA

GENDER:    F

HEIGHT:    5' 4" (1.60 m)

WEIGHT:    125 lb (56.70 kg)

Living in Colorado and being self-employed, I have ample opportunities to
backpack. There are over 700,000 acres/280,000 hectares of public land
bordering my 71-acre/29-hectare "backyard" in addition to all the other
gorgeous locations which abound in Colorado. Over the past 15 years, my
husband John and I have also had the good fortune to hike/snowshoe glaciers,
rain forests, mountains and deserts in exotic locations, including New
Zealand, Iceland, Costa Rica, Slovenia and Death Valley. My hiking style is
comfortable, aiming for lightweight. I use a tent (rainfly if needed).
Current pack averages 25 lb (11 kg) excluding food and water.

 

PRODUCT INFORMATION

 

Manufacturer: Ahnu

Year of Manufacture: 2014

Manufacturer's Website: http://www.ahnu.com

MSRP: US $130.00

Listed Weight: 10.7 oz (303 g)

Measured Weight: 10.5 oz (298 g)

Sizes Available: 5 - 11 Women's

Size Reviewed: 8 Women's

Colors Available: Monument, Deep Teal, Night Shade, Black, Dark Gray, Dark
Blue, Red Dahlia, Black Aubergine, Dark Slate, Eclipse & New Black

Color Reviewed: Winetasting (discontinued color)

 

Description: 

 

* The Sugarpines have a proprietary waterproof, breathable technology

* Outsoles are Vibram® non-marking outsoles with self-cleaning lugs and a
rubber to protector

* Uppers are waterproof mesh, leather and suede

* Has a gusseted tongue

* Lining is constructed of a moisture wicking mesh material

* Duel-density EVA, removable footbed with an integrated nylon shank and
arch support

* Built-in shock dispersal plate in forefoot          Ahnu Sugarpine Trail
Shoes

 

 

 

FIELD USE AND PERFORMANCE

 

Sugarpines on the Trail

Ahnu Sugarpines on the Trail!

In the past 16 and a half months, I've worn the Ahnu Sugarpine Waterproof
trail shoes on one three-night backpack, at least a dozen half to full day
hikes and many casual days in-between. I'd estimate I have 60 "hard" miles
(97 km) on them and countless rural/urban miles/kilometers as well. I got
them in late January of last year, so I have worn the Sugarpines through
several months of winter, the heat of summer and through the cool of autumn.


 

Most of my trekking has been in south central Colorado. A lot of it was into
the approximately 100,000 acres (40,468 hectares) of Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) land encompassing the Cooper Mountain range/Royal Gorge
area near Cañon City or the Wet Mountains south of the Arkansas River
Valley. 

 

The Cooper Mountain range is mostly piñon pine and juniper-covered high
desert with rough primitive game and mining trails (for the most part) and
is easily accessed just outside of my property fence line. 

 

The Wet Mountains rise up from the Arkansas River Valley and are dense
ponderosa pine and sage forests.

 

I also wore the Sugarpines on a few out-of-state trips, mostly casually, in
New Jersey, Florida, Massachusetts, Utah and Louisiana. 

 

Elevations I wore the Sugarpines in ranged from sea level up to 6000' (1800
m). Temperatures ranged from just below freezing to well over 100 F (38 C).

 

 

PERFORMANCE

 

The Ahnu Sugarpine trail shoes are a good-looking pair of hiking shoes! With
their deep wine colored uppers and almost plain style, these shoes can
easily be worn casually in town as well as on the trail without screaming
"BACKPACKER COMING"! The style is very much reminiscent of an Oxford-type of
shoe rather than a low-cut hiking boot. I very much like the look as I try
not to call attention to my clumsy feet! 

 

The shoe laces are inconspicuous and shorter than most of my other hiking
shoes/boots. I actually can tie them normally without having to double (or
triple) bow them and without have laces so long as to wonder if I'm going to
inadvertently lasso the nearest rock or errant twig on the trail and end up
kissing the dirt!

 

Right out of the box, the Sugarpines cradled my feet in a comfortable, yet
supportive position. I found the sizing to be spot-on, very true-to-size; I
almost always wear a size 8 in most brands. The heel cups of the shoes are
snug without being too tight and I never have had any slipping upwards of my
feet or hot spots or blisters from rubbing. 

 

I found the toebox to be roomy enough but not so wide as to have my tootsies
frantically searching for a "grip". As with a lot of my trail shoes, I ended
up swapping out the stock insoles for my favorite aftermarket insoles. While
the stock insoles were just fine, padding-wise, I have a left arch which is
not quite in proper sync with my right one and insoles for "normal" arches
can be just a tad off-kilter and annoying. 

 

While I happily knocked off lots of miles/kilometers day hiking in the
shoes, I did find the Sugarpines to be not quite as supportive as I need
when toting a heavier backpack. I tend to roll outward on my feet and the
Sugarpines let me do that more than I like. I have other Ahnu boots that are
mid-height and I don't have that problem, so it could just be the fact that
the Sugarpines are low-cut shoes without that extra structure I need about
my ankles. Obviously, there is no ankle support in any low-cut shoes and I'm
a natural klutz so stability might be in the foot of the beholder!

 

Even with a heavy backpack though, I never felt like the soles of my feet
were getting battered and bruised by a rocky trail. Many of the nice
packed-dirt trails I encountered turn to large rocks, mixed with small rocks
and boulders once I'm above tree line and sharp edges on those rocks can
cause me to be very sore by the end of the day. The Sugarpines held their
own in that department nicely. I certainly was aware that the surface wasn't
packed dirt, but I didn't hobble on the way back down!

 

And since I'm on the subject of rocks, let me say that the Sugarpines never
slipped on any surface I trod on, from dusty dirt to ball-bearing-like scree
to large rocks and slabs of granite, I was as sure-footed as I could be.
Definitely, not mountain goat like but better than me on ice skates! The
tread on the Sugarpine isn't very aggressive, but it was enough. Where the
Sugarpines' tread suffered was in the mud - there just isn't enough depth to
"squish" out the mud between lugs.

 

Though I haven't encountered any unexpected downright downpours on the
trails and I avoid hiking when it is already raining due to our clay-like,
shoe-swallowing mud, I have had to wade through some small streams and
through morning dew-wetted vegetation in the Sugarpines. The shoes took the
challenge like a champ and at no time did I ever had to endure wet feet
except for the time I misjudged the depth of the water and it sloshed over
the top of the shoes (mid-height boots would have saved me). This was on the
Newlin Trail in Fremont County, Colorado where there are 28 stream
crossings! Thanks to my spare socks and the Sugarpines quick-drying, the
hike continued with no real damage sustained.

Tread

Tread of Sugarpines after 16 months

Side View

Cleaned up Sugarpines

 

Sadly, I haven't really done anything special to care for the Sugarpines
since I got them and when I started this report, I noticed they were a bit
dusty and dirty from all the nasty mud we have around here in Cañon City.
The nasty mud often needs to be almost gouged out of the lugs with a sharp
stick before it hardens into cement-like hardness. I almost always did that
as soon as I could, but normal use has still taken a bit of a toll on the
Sugarpines.

 

I couldn't find any specific care instructions on the Ahnu website, so I
went with what I thought was prudent. I used a stiff brush to remove all the
loose dirt and then a soft brush dipped in cold water to remove whatever
else I could. I think they turned out pretty good! The laces are still in
great shape with no worn or unraveled threads. And unlike some of my
previous trail shoes, the Sugarpines have not deteriorated around the inside
of the cuffs from rubbing nor have the uppers suffered any harm from the
cactus, boulders and other debris I've kicked at and scraped against on the
trail. And the outsoles show some wear on the heels and outer edges, but
they still have lots of miles/kilometers in them.

 

STARRING ATTRACTIONS

 

1.) Very comfortable trail shoes right out of the box.

2.) Truly waterproof, even after standing in running water for several
minutes.

3.) Stylish enough to wear casually.

4.) Supportive enough for rough terrain with a medium weight pack.

 

MINOR DISTRACTIONS

 

1.) While the Sugarpines are great for day hiking and casual wear, for me,
they don't have enough arch and ankle support for times when I need to carry
a heavier pack.

2.) Tread is not aggressive enough for expansive soil mud.

 

SUMMARY

 

The Sugarpines spent most of the winter pining (pun intended) in my gear
closet. I favor a mid-height boot in the cold and snow. But now that the
weather has warmed up considerably, I've moved them to the front of the
line, ready to go on summer day hikes! While I was not comfortable when
wearing a 30+ lb (14+ kg) backpack, that might say more about my preferences
and arch/ankle idiosyncrasies than about the Sugarpines! I will definitely
continue to wear them a lot going forward. Had them on today, as a matter of
fact, for a quick 2.2 mi (3.5 km) round-trip trek to the grocery store! Very
much recommended for walking, day hiking and casual wear, especially if
water is in the picture!

 

Kathleen (Kathy) Waters