Women's Targhee IV Mid Waterproof Boot

Keen's pitch for the Targhee IV is that it is the last hiking boot you'll buy, and the construction is where that claim lives. KEEN.FUSION bonds the upper to the sole without glue, which removes the single most common way a hiking boot dies - the outsole peeling away from the upper after a few hundred miles. Underneath, a Luftcell air-injected polyurethane midsole with LuftCore resists compression rather than flattening out the way EVA does, and the KEEN.RUGGED outsole is a TPU compound Keen rate as twice as abrasion-resistant as rubber.

The rest is a proper mid-cut hiker: a nubuck leather upper over a KEEN.DRY waterproof breathable membrane and mesh lining, a stability shank, a heel-capture system, a rubber toe bumper and multi-directional lugs. It weighs 16.58 oz per boot with a 24 mm heel stack and a 12 mm drop, and it keeps Keen's roomy forefoot, which is the reason a lot of people buy Keen in the first place. The laces are recycled PET and the boot has been PFAS-free since 2018.