In search of a new hiking shoe

tavenne323

I've been doing some day hiking the past couple years, mostly on the North Shore of Minnesota. I am having a hard time finding a shoe that really holds up well and doesn't give me blisters or sore spots.

My most recent pair was Patagonia. I got them about two years ago. They did fine at first, but during my trip to Yosemite in June 2012, I started getting blisters on my heels and a super painful spot on my right baby toe/foot joint (metatarsalphalangeal joint). The previous two pairs were Merrell's. I still got that pain on my MTP joint, but not really any blisters, they just seemed to break down kinda fast.

I am looking for a "lighter" weight pair, as I don't do much mountain type hiking. Plus, I wear more minimalist shoes on a regular basis. I prefer a low shoe, versus a boot style also. I float between a 9.5/10 men's and 10.5/11 women's. Somewhere between average and wide width. So if a shoe runs more narrow (like Nike) it won't work unless I can get it in wide.

I was looking at the Salewa brand on backcountry.com. But there are no dealers near me to try them on and I've never heard of them. I'm heading to REI in Minneapolis this weekend to try some on, but haven't had much luck finding shoes there (their return policy is just so awesome).