Hoka One One Stinson ATR 4 Trailrunners

I can think of one word to best describe the Hoka One One Stinson ATR 4 Trailrunners - Plush!  They have a ton of cushion.  These shoes were recommended by my podiatrist.  You can tell from the picture below that they have a much higher stack height of cushion than your typical running shoe.

Hoka Stinson ATR 4

I had been suffering from plantar fasciitis for months.  He explained that the typical mass market running and hiking shoes have a very high heel-to-toe drop (my Nike Pegasus that I had been wearing for many years are 12mm), and that I needed to start training my feet to get back to the more natural way of walking which would be NO heel-to-toe drop.  Humans were designed to walk and run flat footed and wearing shoes with a high drop is like walking (or hiking) in high-heels.  The Hoka Stinson ATR 4 has a 5 millimeter drop so, less than half the typical running shoe.  There are some brands out there, particularly Altra, that offer a zero drop and that is the goal, but my podiatrist wanted me to make the transition using the Hokas first to give my feet a chance to adapt and prevent injury.  The theory is that once my feet adapt to the more natural walking gait in zero drop shoes, my plantar fasciitis will stop recurring.  No more searching for expensive shoe inserts or trips to the doctor for cortisone shots...!

I normally wear waterproof hiking shoes from Northface when we go on our trips to Europe.  This past trip to Italy, I took both but the Northface shoes stayed in my back pack.  Had I known I could get by just fine with only the trail runners, I would have left the hiking shoes behind and saved 3 pounds of weight in my pack!  The Hoka's only weigh 1.5 pounds.  I believe on the next trip I will replace the extra pair of shoes in my pack with a pair of Croc's which weigh less than a pound combined.

So, how did they perform on a 5 week trip through Italy?  Nearly perfectly.  They are supremely comfortable as walking shoes.  The combined effect of massive cushion and a wider than normal sole made walking on cobblestones and all the other hard surfaces the Italians pave their streets and sidewalks with a non-issue. You may be able to tell from the photo below that these shoes have wider than normal soles in the heel area for stability and the fore foot is shaped more like the natural shape of the foot than most running shoes.

A wide heel and an ample toe box make for a great hiking shoe.

They are quite breathable and I never had sweaty feet or blisters and we averaged 10 miles a day. The times I did get wet feet from walking in rain, they dried out quickly overnight.  In fact, since I've been back I wore them on a job recently in a torrential downpour that caused flooding at my customer's facility.  I had no choice but to walk through a puddle up to my ankles in the morning.  Amazingly, by the time I got back to the hotel that evening, my shoes, socks, and feet were totally dry!

I've been wearing this pair since August and I have accumulated far more than the 500 miles running shoes typically should be replaced at.  They are just now beginning to feel as though the cushion is spent and I'm probably due for a new pair but structurally, these shoes have held up fine.  The uppers and soles still have plenty of miles left in them.

Dirty but still functional

You may be asking yourself when the other "shoe is going to drop" and here is the only negative I've found with these shoes:  Wet traction on smooth surfaces is nearly nonexistent.  Walking on polished marble sidewalks that were wet from rain in Padua, my feet slipped out from under me backwards. If I hadn't been in the kind of shape that allowed me to catch myself in a pushup position, I'd likely have a different shaped face right now.  Although that might have been an improvement, it would have ruined an otherwise great vacation...:)  If you wear these shoes on vacation, mind the wet spots.  These shoes also suffer from that loud squelching sound you sometimes hear from wet shoes.

There has been a trend among thru-hikers lately to use trail runners instead of hiking boots.  If I was doing the Camino de Santiago, or the John Muir Trail, I wouldn't hesitate to wear the Hoka Stinson ATR 4.

How would I rate these shoes for vacation travel?

Pros:

1. Supremely comfortable and cushioned.
2. Plenty breathable
3. Durable
4. Cobblestone compliant
5. Blister free hiking
6. Lightweight

Cons:

1. Not good for smooth wet surfaces
2. A little on the expensive side.  They normally retail for $160 but we found them at REI on sale for $130.  About what a top-of-the-line running shoe typically costs.

Final verdict:  absolutely vacation worthy.

REI Co-op Stuff Travel Tote Review

For a recent extended backpacking vacation in Italy, we wanted something we could use for quick jaunts to a market, laundry, and for keeping snacks in while riding on trains.  This REI "Stuff Travel Tote" turned out to be perfect.  It compress down into a very small attached pouch for packing but expands plenty big enough to put a couple days worth of food in at a market.  It also has an exterior stretchable pocket that nearly doubles the capacity. We used this bag in a drenching downpour and the contents in the interior pocket stayed dry.  It comes with both hand-held handles and also a fully adjustable shoulder strap which the wife used almost exclusively.  This bag weighs very little when packed in the back pack and is very much worth the price at REI.

Showing hidden interior storage pouch

Osprey Kestrel and Kyte Backpacks are the perfect European Travel Luggage

We've taken 6 trips to Europe over the last 12 years or so.  The first was a cruise, so luggage handling wasn't an issue. The second trip we toured much of Tuscany and Umbria by train.  It was during this second trip that we decided we were done with rolling luggage.  We won't ever again be the tourists who drag rolling luggage over cobblestone paved sidewalks and streets, drag them up and down stairs (many of the small hotels and B&Bs we stay in don't have elevators), and heave them on and off trains. It's backpacks for us from now on.

Now that we've completed 4 other trips of from 2 to 5 weeks with just backpacks, we have enough experience to know what works for us.  Our first 3 trips with backpacks saw us using inexpensive, army surplus store packs.  They weren't particularly light, or comfortable, but they got the job done.  For our latest 5 week trip through Northern Italy, we decided to splurge and upgrade to Osprey Kestrel 48 (his) and Kyte 46 (hers) backpacks.

We chose these after spending time talking to the helpful backpacking experts at REI.  We gave them our requirements of packs that would serve us well on the Camino de Santiago, the John Muir trail, and general gallivanting around Europe.

The folks at the REI backpack department are true "outfitters".  They have a selection of pads and weights that they can load into a pack you are considering and then a detailed process for adjusting the fit of the pack to your body.  The trick was to choose packs with very comfortable, padded hip belts and suspension systems that will allow for airflow between the pack and your back.  Once correctly adjusted, the majority of the weight is distributed to your hips and the upper straps only prevent the back from moving front to back.  The difference in how the weight feels with a quality pack versus the inexpensive ones that put all the weight on your shoulders is remarkable.  With these packs, we never found ourselves having to lean forward while walking, nor did our backs and knees ache after taking them off after a long walk.

These packs have sleeved areas where you can slide in a hydration bladder, storage for the included rain cover, and separate storage area for a sleeping bag.  They even come with straps for hauling a tent, a loop for an ice axe (hope we never need one of those), holders for hiking poles built into one of the shoulder straps, and the ability to access the main compartment through either the top or side.

They also have a nice stretchy pocket on the back where we stored our raincoats for quick access, and side pockets of the same material for water bottles.

We were able to walk on and store these backpacks in the overhead stow bins easily on an Airbus A-318, Boeing 767, and a Boeing 737.  The men's version, if the top compartment was fully stuffed, might be a challenge on some of the CRJ planes that some of the airlines are still using.  Knowing that could happen to us, we purchased some tyvek zip up shopping duffels from Ikea called "Frakta" for $4.95.  The backpacks fit perfectly in them. The makes them perfect for backpack travel. They weigh next to nothing and fold up neatly and fit into the area where the hydration bladder would normally go.  Most of the backpacks we considered at REI had areas where the bladder would be stowed internally.  That would mean at least partially unloading the pack to retrieve the bladder to refill it or to get at our Frakta bags.  We didn't use water bladders for our vacation because we never had far to hike to get to our hotel.  Water bottles in the side pocket served us well for staying hydrated on long train rides. These two Osprey packs have the bladder sleeve mounted behind the breathable suspension area, but external to the pack.  It's the best possible option.

Frakta bag partially inserted in water bladder sleeve

Pack fits easily into the Frakta bag

As an experiment, on our way home from Italy we packed both backpacks into the Frakta bags and checked them through to our final destination.  Both arrive unscathed.

Here's what we liked and disliked about our experience with these two packs during our 5 weeks of living out of them in Italy:

Pros
1.  Tons of adjustability
2.  Totally comfortable weight distribution
3.  External water bladder sleeve.
4.  If you pack light, and strategically, they are plenty big enough
5.  Seemingly countless straps for compressing the contents.  Smooshing everything down well after you've packed it makes the overall outer dimensions of the backpack good for fitting in overhead storage on planes and trains.
6.  Quick and easy access via a side zipper to the main storage compartment.
7.  The include rain covers worked well in a torrential downpour in Padua.

Cons
1. Virtually impossible to reach water bottles in the side pockets with the pack on.  If we were doing longer hikes, we would absolutely incorporate a water bladder.

The Osprey Kestrel and Kyte backpacks proved perfect for our style of traveling by train in Europe and we suspect they will serve us well on our upcoming trips on the Camino de Santiago, and the John Muir Way in Scotland. If you through in the Osprey guarantee, these may be the perfect travel backpacks. Hereweeeego....