Isle Royale: Keen Targhee II Boot Review

As soon as I decided to head to Isle Royale this year, I decided I needed to get some new hiking boots. I wore my old boots for two training hikes and the only issues I had physically were with my feet and ankles. My old boots are only 5 or 6 years old but I think I bought them without enough critical thought for how they fit. I have a rather pointy ankle and any kind of shoe that impinges on my ankle really bugs me. In addition, my old boots pinch my toes unless I'm wearing very thin running socks. I decided to look into low top hiking shoes instead of the more traditional mid or high top boot. I checked out several Madison area stores & finally found a pair at Fontana that I really liked. As soon as I put them on I said, these are it. They didn't touch my ankles at all, and seemed to fully support my foot with plenty of room for my toes. They are the Keen Targhee II. Fontana had only a size 10, and they felt just a tad too tight across the top of my foot...and now I'm pretty sensitive to getting the wrong fit. They held the 10 for me & had an 11 sent over from another store. I chose the 11's & wore them around the office and in the house for several days & they just didn't feel as good as they did at first in the store. My wife & I went by Morgan Shoes, just to see what they had. If you've never been to Morgan, you've got to go. Those folks know foot and shoe anatomy. Cherie discussed what I wanted & showed me their only hiking shoe. It didn't fit me well. I told her about the Keens & how they were feeling. She told me to bring them in & she'd help make them fit me! Awesome. I brought them in & Cherie spent about 20 minutes with me putting in various thicknesses of cork insoles to adjust the fit. Of course one foot is bigger than the other and Cherie used differing thickness to adjust. It ended up perfect.

I wore them on this trip and am very happy with them. The only problem I could identify is that they were quite slippery on the wooden bridge paths through the sloughs after a rain. I don't know how a boot with a Vibram sole would compare...perhaps a better grip on wet surfaces.