Score yourself extra sightseeing time with faster ascents of your favourite peaks in these fast and lightweight women’s hiking shoes.

The North Face Women’s Ultra FastPack is a great every day hiking shoe. It took crushed gravel, dirt and single-track Blue Mountains trails with ease and comfort. We wore this shoe on a Women Want Adventure weekend hiking down into Govetts Leap, jumping through rivers and tackling steep rocky stairs.

Full Review:

Thank goodness this shoe has traction to spare on trails, because the day we hiked in the Blue Mountains it poured rain. This was a great test for waterproofing which proved its impenetrable moisture barrier to guarantee dryness. Although socks were a little wet, the shoe stayed relatively dry because the collar lining has flashdry material.

Like to dance? We sure do at Women Want Adventure. The rubbersided toe cap of this shoe wasn’t designed for tap dancing (we think) but it did provide us with additional protection on some of the rough trails and in the wet. Even with the rubbersided toe cap, the shoe is breathable and helps regulate your foots temperature. There’s nothing worse then bringing gaff tape and having to tape your shoes mid hike.

If you’re looking for a good leg burner, the steps to Govetts Leap Lookout should be on your list. With every steep step, a shoe on the trail that’s lightweight counts. Every hiker will know every gram counts and what you carry, even on your feet needs to be light. The good thing about the Women’s Ultra FastPack is it has embedded cables inside the mesh quarter panel which provide a sleek, lightweight and midfoot support. Steep stairs? No worries.

The pace of our hiking trips are usually pretty steady. There are times however, Leaders and the group need to move quickly in unpredictable weather or are training for hiking fitness for some of our larger trips. One of our favourite things about this shoe is it’s built to help you go ‘fast’, hence the name. It’s sleek support and weight savings make it feel smooth on your feet yet supportive. It’s the shoe we recommend to our Leaders because they need to move between the group and an ankle hiking-top boot is too slow. 

At the $159 price range, this is a great hiking shoe that can log the kilometers and keep you happy, dry and of course fast.

These have made the rotations from the trails in the mountains to walks in the city as we have transitioned them from cement to gravel constantly.

What we didn’t like:

The FastPack shoe does take a few walks to wear in as out of the box they are very firm. We don’t suggest trail running for long distances either. We tried this on some trails in Sydney and the longer runs were a bit painful on the foot, this could be from the firmness of the cushioning.  It’s also not the best shoe for winter.

The Verdict:

The North Face Ultra FastPack is one of our great, light, favourite coloured hiking shoe, with The North Face brand cranking out high quality materials to keep us speedy and comfortable on the trails. And while they don’t play in the trail running space, The FastPack are definitely offer plenty of protection for long hikes to get you to where you need to go. 

Photo Credit: (Lyndon Marceauphotography)