Brooks Cascadia 18 Review

These are the Brooks Cascadia 18, and today, we’re going to review them and explain why we think they’re one of the best medium—to long-distance trail shoes on the market. Alongside my team member Dave, we will discuss what these shoes felt like when we’ve taken them on over 100-mile hikes and clocked up over 400 miles. We’ll break down the specifications, performance, and feel straight out of the box.

So, first of all, we will talk about the shoe’s stack height. On the rearfoot, we’ve got 33 mm; on the forefoot, we’ve got 25 mm, giving you an 8mm drop. They come in around 312g for men’s 9 US. They’ve got a rock plate in the forefoot, and they’ve got 4.5 mm lugs.

As you can see, they have a Brooks TrailTack green rubber outsole and multi-directional lugs. While they have good traction on most terrains, we found that they struggled a little underfoot on wet rocks and steep declines.

As you can see, the sole is packed with lots of cushioning, and that’s probably one of the biggest pluses of these shoes. That extra cushioning makes them super comfortable, but it does pack in a little bit of extra weight, and that’s why we think they’re more suited for medium—to longer-distance runs.

We took them straight out of the box took them in for a 4-Hour hike with no problems, no blisters, no hot spots. They really gave us immediate comfort.

When it comes to the sizing, it’s typically true to fit size, so it fits us nicely; we didn’t need to go up or down. I typically have a normal to slightly wider foot, and I slipped in there with no problem. It does come in a wider version if you feel that’s necessary. In terms of the coverage on the toebox, it’s super comfortable with a nice mesh with an overlay on areas that are more likely to get scuffed and marked. It has a mild overlay in the toebox for durability, but as you can see, it gives minimal toe protection there, so if you hit a big hard rock, you’ll feel it.

As we move up the shoe into the tongue, it’s a gusseted tongue, so it’s stitched in and doesn’t move side to side. It’s got an elasticated lace holder, so you can tuck your laces and keep them nice and secure. The heel counter is relatively stable, giving you a little bit of extra stability. It’s got some nice padding around the heel counter, so overall, it’s a super comfortable shoe.

I would say it’s a shoe that can be used for both hiking and medium to long-distance trail running. As I mentioned before, it is a bit heavy, but it is one of the most comfortable shoes we’ve put on alongside, probably the Solomon Genesis Matrix. It’s likely not a shoe for short or faster races like the Catamount 3, given the amount of cushion impact and the fact that it’s a little bit heavier, but it’s a fantastic shoe overall. It’s a shoe that we’d recommend to beginners, a shoe that we’d recommend for people that want to do ultra-long distances and have the extra comfort in there, whether that’s walking or trail running.

So a great shoe overall in terms of comfort and action-packed in terms of stability and traction. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section, if you find the video helpful, like and subscribe to our YouTube channel.