I have had good luck with all things Danner. A pair of light, low cut Merrel trail shoes were fine. Keens feel good and I have had good wear from them.

When I was a young guy I spent all day walking in the woods, laying out timber sales, recovering survey corners and so on. I wore eight and ten inch heavy duty logging boots and loved them. High tops are nice for keeping mud, dust and rock out of your boots. They are not necessary for support and stability, in my opinion.

Increasingly, boots and shoes look alike to me. I recently saw a pair of medium weight hikers in Walmart for $16. They looked about like the expensive made in China hikers, fit fine. So far so good.