Brooks Cascadia 8 Review

The Brooks Cascadia 8 is a superb hiking/trail-running shoe and is currently my hiking shoe of choice. It has a light weight design, street runner feel, great ventilation and amazing traction.  I use this shoe for all my hiking outings from day hikes to multi-day trips.  I came upon this shoe after I retired my Vasque Juxt's.  I was looking for a tighter fitting show with better ventilation and more grip.  All my wants were answered with the Cascadia 8.  The shoe simply preforms great under any condition.  This is the shoe that will be leading me into the wilderness for the foreseeable future.

Durability

When I first picked the shoe up in the local outdoors store it looked and felt exactly like a street runner.  Immediately an alarm went off in my head as to its durability.  It just didn't look rugged or trail worthy.  The shoe has a thin mesh outer layer streaked with thin strips of leather and the kick toe was the smallest I'd ever seen on a hiker.  After I tried it on though I had to risk it, it was that comfortable.  The shoe fit like a glove and the Brooks insole felt amazing.  I purchased the Cascadia 8 that day and have since put almost 450 miles on the pair with no durability problems.   The shoe is surprisingly
tough.  I've had no rips or tears in the mesh and I've done my far share of bushwhacking through thorns and thick under brush.  The laces are not frayed or ripped in any spot and the sole isn't pulling away from the shoes.  The brooks insole is still very comfortable and my feet feel great after a 20 mile day.
Overall Score:  8/10

Grip

Lug lose!!

The Cascadia 8 features a lug style self cleaning tread pattern that bites into all terrain types.  Every step I take, from loose dirt to mud, feels secure and planted.  The grip is really one of the highlights of this shoe.  With all that said here comes a blemish on the Cascadia, some of the lugs on the tread have fell off completely or have partially torn.  I'll post a picture to the right showing this.  When I first noticed this I was angry and considered contacting Brooks about the issue.  I did some digging online and found that many people are having the same problem out of the Cascadia 8.  So apparently it's a defect in the design of the tread.  Surprisingly though I have noticed zero lose of traction.  Loosing a few lugs off the tread effected the shoes grip none for me personally.  So my anger subsided and I went back to loving the shoe.  I'm sure that peoples experience on this topic will be dramatically different, but for me it hasn't been an issue.
Overall Score:  10/10

Comfort

The Brooks Cascadia 8's comfort is the best I've experienced straight out of the box.  The shoe has no break-in period and the insole feels amazing.  I can only compare it to a street runner in comfort.  The shoe simply just feels good on your feet.  This is my go to shoe for long or multi-day hikes and my feet never hurt at the end of the day while setting up camp.  As for blisters, I've never got one while wearing the Cascadia 8.  Its the first shoe, both hiking and running, that's never produced a blister at some point.  I can't stress enough how comfortable these shoes are.

Overall Score:  9/10

Long Distance Performance

For long distance hikes, thru hikes, and multi-day hikes I've never came across a shoe better then the Cascadia 8.  The shoes street runner comfort combined with it's great grip and excellent ventilation lets you eat up the trail miles while never noticing your feet are beating away at the earth beneath you.  The shoe's great ventilation allows it to dry very quickly when it becomes wet.  Combine this with merino wool socks and your feet will be dry in a mile of hiking.  Also the shoe laces are on the short side which I love.  This prevents the laces from dangling low and catching on branches pulling them untied.  I had this problem with my old hikers, the Vasque Juxt, but not with the Cascadia 8.  This might not sound like a big deal, but when I get into a good hiking rhythm there's nothing I hate more then breaking it every 3 miles to tie my shoes.

Overall Score: 10/10

Overall Summary

The Brooks Cascadia 8 is a true long hike shoe.  It will carry you securely and comfortably to whatever destination is on your radar.  Although the deep lug tread might make it a bit awkward for around
the town use, on the trail it is king.
PROS:  Very durable.  "Suction cup" like grip.  Excellent ventilation.  Street runner comfort in a hiker.  One of the best shoes for long distance hiking.  Light weight.
CONS:  Lugs can and probably will break off the tread.  Not to great for around the town use.

Overall Score:  9.5/10

 

Vasque Juxt Review

The Vasque Juxt holds a special place in my heart, it was my first pair of actual hiking shoes.  Always before I would just throw on my pair of Nike street runners that I used for everything from playing soccer in to going to a bar in the evening.  As I started to get more into hiking I realized that I needed an actual hiking oriented shoe with lots of grip, but without the bulk of a full fledged hiking boot.  Basically I wanted the feel of my Nike runners with the grip and durability of a hiking boot.  After shopping around some and reading way to many reviews I finally settled on the Vasque Juxt.  It provided me with everything I wanted on the surface.  It was rugged looking, light, and had an aggressive tread pattern.  Since I purchased the Juxt I have put about 400 hiking and trail running miles on them.  Here is my assessment.

Durability

This section is one of the most important to me.  A hiking shoe has to hold up to everything I throw at it, especially for the money I usually pay for them.  With that said the Vasque Juxt is durable.  Very durable.  Over 400 miles have been put on these shoes and the only part to wear out on me is the tread (naturally).  I was so impressed with how this shoe held up that now it has became something of a benchmark that I measure my other hiking shoes durability to.  All the stitching on the side panels

(as the photo shows) are still holding strong.  There has been no separation of the sole from the shoe.  The laces have never frayed or broke and the insole has held up decently.  Durability score: 9/10

Grip

The Vasque Juxt has adequate grip.  The shoe makes you feel secure on all terrain types but the shoe does break loose occasionally on wet rocks.  The tread pattern is not to aggressive.  This allows the shoe to be very versatile and capable of being worn anywhere and not just for hiking.  Grip score: 7/10

Comfort

The Juxt's insole comes out the box a little hard.  I ran the original insoles shipped with the shoes for all 400 miles I've hiked in them.  The insole will eventually break in some, but don't expect it to become very much more comfortable then the way it feels out of the box.  The shoe also fit me a bit loose.  I was worried about this after the first few hikes, but the shoe didn't seem to produced any blisters so I eventually became accustomed to the feel.  Overall I never had an issue with my feet hurting during prolonged hikes.  Comfort score: 7/10

Long Distance Performance

By long distance I mean anything over 12 miles continuously in one day.  The Juxt has carried me for over 20 miles a day several times and dozens of 15-18 mile day trips.  The shoe holds up great and feels good for long hikes, but I do have my complaints.  The Juxt in general does not breath good.  On hot summer days my feet do tend to sweat more so then in other shoes.  Also when the shoe gets significantly wet, such as being plunged into a creek after a misstep on a slippery rock, it takes a long time to dry.  This again has to do with the lack of air flowing in and out of the shoe.  Also around miles 12-14 the Juxt has a tendency to start rubbing the bottom of my heel.  Again I believe this is due to the loose fit of the shoe, but oddly enough this low heel rubbing never resulted in a blister.  It actually calloused over the spot.  Although I've used this shoe to hike long distance many times, it wouldn't be my shoe of choice now that I have moved on from it.  I definitely wouldn't recommend the shoe for any long day hikes over 14 miles or thru-hikes such as the AT.  Long Distance Performance: 7/10

Overall Summary

The Vasque Juxt is an amazing shoe that's capable of doing almost anything you aim your feet towards while wearing them.  Its a shoe that does a lot of things good but nothing great.  My recommended uses of the Juxt would be as a day hiker or an everyday adventure shoe.
PROS:   Amazing durability.  Extremely versatile "multi-sport" shoe.  Can find relatively cheap online.  Cool toe-lace design.
CONS:   Not a long distance hiker.  Poorly ventilated.  Bad traction on wet rocks.  

Overall score: 7.5/10