Best Trail Running Shoes of 2023 | Best in Gear Awards

Intro to the Best Running Shoes of 2023

We’ve made it through another year of running without wanting to quit or getting fully lost on a trail, which means it’s time for our annual Best in Gear Awards. Here at Believe in the Run, we accumulate thousands of miles across many models, trying almost every running shoe out there. Of course, most of those miles come on the roads courtesy of our team in Baltimore, but we’re spread much wider than that. We’ve already published our top road running picks, so now it’s time for the best trail running shoes of the year.

Here’s the thing though — trail running shoes, like their road-based counterparts, have gotten so good over the last few years that it’s hard to keep shoes off this list. Foams continue to get bouncier, Vibram keeps cooking up better and better traction, and carbon fiber plates are becoming commonplace among the trees and trails.

However, there are still trainers that stand out above the rest. We’ve tried every shoe on this list and a ton that aren’t on here, and there were some tough decisions we had to make. Like a parent with kids, it’s hard to pick a favorite when they’re all pretty amazing. The good news is that we can still give trophies based on their individual talents and participation ribbons for the runner-ups.

So that’s what we did here, breaking them up into their own individual categories. Keep in mind that these are shoes that came out this year, which means that some old favorites won’t make the cut. Sure, we’re still running in shoes from 2022, but we can’t choose them for a second year in a row, which means that the Topo Athletic Pursuit and Hoka Speedgoat 5 will just have to hold onto their place in our hearts.

Not to worry, though, there are plenty of other excellent trail shoes to carry you over the miles, whether you’re out for a short hike or a multi-day fastpack through the mountains. Let’s lace up.

Before we get to the fun categories and the individual honors, there’s one trail shoe that stood out above all others this year: The Saucony Endorphin Rift. Perhaps the easiest way to think of the Rift is to look at it as a plateless version of the Endorphin Edge. Don’t worry, ditching the plate didn’t cut out any of the enjoyment — in fact, it probably enhanced it.

For starters, the Rift doesn’t feel nearly as dangerous as its Edge-y cousin. The lack of a plate means that the PWRRUN PB midsole isn’t trying to bounce you off into the brush as you bomb down mountains. There is, however, still a small rock plate to protect you from the inevitable stones and roots that love to stab into the bottom of your feet. Protecting that slab of PWRRUN PB and rock plate is a hearty covering of PWRTRAC rubber wth big ol’ claws for grip on all surfaces.

Ultimately, our trail crew deemed the third time as the charm with the Endorphin Rift, setting out to offer a proper trail racer for Saucony and checking all the boxes. It also just looks darn good, white upper and all.

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We just got done touting Topo’s technical prowess with our runner-up shoe of the year, but it nabs the top technical crown, too. Even better, it does so with a different shoe. Topo Athletic doesn’t mess around, people. Whether you go for the OG Terraventure 4 or the all-conditions Terraventure 4 WP, you’re getting a lean, mean trail shoe with the traction to go the distance.

Part of what earns the Terraventure 4 a special place in our hearts (outside of the excellent grip, of course) is its build quality. There isn’t a single detail that Topo hasn’t considered, with a stout toe bumper in case you kick rocks and reliable gaiter attachments for when the weather doesn’t cooperate. Our trail team put their typical ton of miles on the Terraventure 4, yet they were unable to find any signs of wear and tear on either the upper or the ZipFoam midsole. We probably don’t need to mention the durability of the Vibram MegaGrip outsole — it’s Vibram, for Pete’s sake.

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From fearsome to featherlight, it’s time to talk about the best trail running shoes that barely tipped the scales. After all, the last thing some people want is a hefty trail shoe when they’re going for an FKT. With that in mind, we landed on the Hoka Zinal 2 as our best lightweight trail running shoe of the year. Brands don’t always rebuild a shoe from the ground up for version two, but in Hoka’s case, it seems to have worked out.

Don’t get us wrong — lightweight shoes aren’t usually your best bet if you’re heading into rocky, rooty terrain. There’s not much of a toe guard on the Zinal 2, which means you probably should avoid kicking rocks given the chance. That said, the new sock-like upper is a nice change when it comes to keeping dirt and debris away from your foot. Hoka’s knit material is much softer than some other sock-like uppers we tried over the past year, too, which is always welcome.

Somewhat surprisingly, Hoka actually stepped back from its ProFly midsole on the Zinal 2 in favor of classic EVA. I know, it sounds like that would make for a rather boring shoe, but Hoka’s formulation of EVA is one of the best. It’s soft yet durable, and the 30 mm stack lends a nimble feeling as you roll along.

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It’s true — max cushion shoes sound like a recipe for disaster on the trails. After all, you don’t always know what terrain you’re heading into, and the last thing you want is to roll an ankle. Thankfully, our trail team tends to agree, so we opted for a slightly lower-stack max cushion shoe, the Salomon Glide Max TR, with 36 mm of foam in the heel. As you might have guessed, the TR means that this is actually a trail-ready version of the original Glide Max, which was a road shoe.

We declared the Energy Surge midsole to be the Goldilocks of this fairy tale, offering just the right durometer and just enough of a rocker to keep us floating comfortably along the trails. Salomon also paired its beefy trail runner with 3.5 mm Contagrip lugs across the outsole, which offer a nice, aggressive alternative to the smaller lugs of the Nike Pegasus Trail 4. All of this tech makes the Salomon Glide Max TR sound like it would be a heavy shoe, but it comes in just below 10 oz. for a US M9 — lighter than some classics like the Speedgoat 5 and Brooks Caldera 6.

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It takes a special effort to claim the title of best race day trail shoe twice in a row, but that’s the Hoka Tecton X for you. More specifically, the Tecton X 2. Hoka’s second carbon-plated trail racer doesn’t fall too far from the tree in terms of design, it’s just a bit more refined and ready for action.

The main changes from version one to version two lie in the upper, with the Tecton X 2 picking up a new Matryx upper that’s designed to maximize weight savings. It’s a bit more comfortable than the original Tecton X upper, too, offering a little more stretch through the toebox and a more traditional lacing setup (it doesn’t come as far down the foot). The lacing was one of very few issues we had with the original Tecton X, so it’s a welcome tweak, to be sure.

Underfoot, the Tecton X 2 still has the same wild magic we loved from the original. It takes a little while to get used to the parallel carbon fiber plates, but once you do, they’ll keep you smiling through the trails. Just be careful how you land — the plates sometimes want to launch you off to one side or the other. They’re still sandwiched inside Hoka’s ProFlyX midsole, which has plenty of pop and bounce, while the Vibram Megagrip outsole uses the same lugs as the original, which are at home on either trails or roads.

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It seemed like it was a century between the time we first saw this shoe and the day it came out (in reality, it was a year), and we probably had way too much time to let our expectations run. A ZoomX midsole, carbon plate, and Vibram outsole? That’s a marriage of our three favorite things in running. Of course, realities are usually a bit more grounded than fantasies, and so it was with the Ultrafly.

The midsole proved to be as incredible as we expected, in certain conditions. Meaning, this shoe feels incredible on roads or West Coast trails. Almost like it was made for Western States, where it secured a second-place finish on the feet of Tyler Green this past year. Nike did an incredible job of corralling the instability of ZoomX within the cordura wrap, but on technical terrain it still gets a bit squirrelly.

In a very unlike-Nike turn of events, the upper is quite roomy, to the extent that it was hard to get a good lockdown on uneven terrain. And while the Vibram outsole is the best outsole to date, it could use a little more traction and stickiness underfoot. But then again, that’s why this isn’t the best technical shoe, it’s the best road to trail shoe. It’s a solid first effort in bringing ZoomX to trails, and we have every reason to believe that the next version will take it to the next level.

Also, it may be the most beautiful trail shoe we’ve seen in ages, even if it’s impossible to clean.

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Let’s face it, this sport that we love to call cheap and affordable really isn’t. Once you buy trail running shoes, you’ll get stuck on a slippery slope of apparel, accessories, and exotic races. Don’t blame us, we don’t make the rules. With that in mind, it’s important to show some love to the shoes that don’t bust our budget and therefore allow us to do more races and buy more gear. The Merrell Agility Peak 5 is one of those shoes.

Granted, at $140, it’s not quite as affordable as some of our road-based value picks, but it’s all about what you get for your money. The Agility Peak 5 is reasonably lightweight, with a middle-of-the-road stack underfoot and great grip on the trails. It has a great set of Vibram MegaGrip lugs across the entire outsole, with unique butterfly shapes that chew into the trails on all four sides. The Agility Peak 5 also incorporates 360-degree overlays, meaning that you can trek through thorns and stomp on roots without a care in the world.

We’re also big fans of the FloatPro midsole foam, which lands just on the softer side of medium. It’s kind of our happy place when it comes to trail-based midsoles, as it’s soft enough for comfort yet tough enough to put up with the wear and tear.

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The obvious pick for the most surprising trail shoe of 2023 is a brand we’d never heard of — Tarkine. Their Trail Devil arrived as something of a mystery to our team, but we’re big fans of the unknown. After all, Tarkine burst out of the gate, picking up wins at backyard-style ultras to put the Trail Devil on the scene.

Perhaps the most surprising part of the Tarkine Trail Devil is the fact that its upper changes colors. Our crew was sent the black/green colorway, which actually morphs into a dark maroon in the sunlight. When it changes colors, the Trail Devil also has some hidden easter eggs to offer up in the mesh. Mentioning the upper, it’s a perfectly comfortable material that’s snug on the foot but not restricting. The lightweight upper also keeps the Trail Devil nimble at just under 10 oz.

Laying the base for the Trail Devil, Tarkine has its own proprietary Zenfoam that our team thoroughly enjoyed. It’s a comfortable, medium-density foam that we immediately put to the test in a 100-miler. Tarkine also has its own outsole rubber, which it calls Claw. We’ll admit that it’s not quite up to Vibram’s Megagrip with its 3.5 mm lugs, but it’s certainly a good start.

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The Best Trail Running Gear of 2023

Alright, that settles it — our definitive list of the best trail running shoes of 2023. However, if you’ve ever been out for a trail run, you already know that the shoes are only part of the setup. You’ll probably want to grab some trail-specific clothing, accessories, and more. With that in mind, we’ve picked out just a few of our favorite accessories (and one winter-ready trail shoe) to get you off on the right foot.