Top 7 Trail Running shoes of the Decade

I heard a top songs of the decade playlist on one of the a Sirius channels and knew we had to do one for shoes!

For trail running shoes, this past decade saw an explosion of new models and concepts. This decade will be remembered by shoe nerds for generations to come—like Lithium enshrines 90s alternative rock on satellite radio. This was the decade that launched Hoka, Altra, and Topo Athletic into shoe culture. And of course this is the decade we opened and gave trail running shoes of all kinds a home.

Two meteors streaked through the 2000teens, shining bright but fading away: Pearl Izumi and Scott Running USA.

Just prior to this decade’s start, minimalism was all the rage—and it was hard to find shoes that fit wide. In December 2019, cushion is back on top and there are many wide options.

This list is just for fun. There are too many honorable mentions to name; please comment your Top 7 on our corresponding Instagram and Facebook posts.

1. Hoka Speedgoat 3 — Version 2 was so comparable so either way! Only downside for some was the narrowness. Phil got around this by going up a full size and wearing thin socks. The Hoka Mafate created the Max Cush Trail Running Category, but the Speedgoat 2 and 3 almost perfected it—maybe the v4 wide width option will be perfection and tops for the 2020s?!
2. Altra Lone Peak v1— Here’s the shoe that started an interesting idea: low heel-to-toe drop and a wide toe box—with cushion! A simple idea that created a fit revolution in the trail running industry. Superior, Timp, and Olympus all could make this list. With various models of them all, it would be hard for anyone to agree on which would make a list of 7!
3. Pearl Izumi Trail N2 —Little known fact: there may have never been a 7hills (or we may not have lasted) if it weren’t for PI’s e:motion line of shoes, trail and road. In the summer of 2012, Tim Olson won Western States in the Pearl Trail N1, 6 months before you could buy them. Later that summer, A PI rep came into the Fleet Feet where I worked at the time to show off their Spring 2013 catalog. I was blown away by the colors, the look and feel. I immediately thought a small store could make it with these as their flagship brand. About 3 months after that we opened and Pearl became our top-selling brand for several years.
4. Scott Kinabalu —The original version, with its second color choice (that featured a better upper but still was called v1). Scott shoes are still around in Europe, but they became increasingly heavier and less rockered by the time they left the US market. With Pearl and Scott gone, the market needs another shoe with a rockered midsole—that doesn’t have a huge stack height.
5. Merrell All-out Peak—This may be a surprise to many who have not followed our posts over the years. Merrell struck magic in a bottle here with one of the first shoes to feature Vibram Mega Grip. It was also one of the first trail shoes to bridge the gap of cushioning between a regular shoe like Cascadia and a Hoka. Unfortunately subsequent versions never could replicate that magic.
6. Saucony Peregrine 6— With a decade’s worth of peregrines we feel like this was the consensus best of the bunch. Wide toe box, snug heel, nice upper, and great traction.
7. Topo Ultraventure —A few years ago we were thinking, ‘Hey, someone needs to make the Lone Peak with a bit more cushion and a little bit of a heel lift.’ Topo read our minds with the release of the UV in 2018. It’s quite possibly the perfect trail runner devised on paper that actually pulled it off in production!!