4 Best Nike Trail Running Shoes in 2026

How we test Nike trail running shoes

To be able to deliver objective reviews with straightforward pros and cons of Nike trail running shoes, we follow these steps: 

• We buy all shoes with our own money to prevent biased reviews.
• We do high-mileage runs in each shoe and test them on trails, wet and dry, uphill and downhill, rocky and muddy.
• We cut each shoe first into half, then into pieces. We do this to spot all the techs and details inside the shoes. Also, we measure their 20 different parameters including traction, lug thickness, toebox durability, breathability, shock absorption, etc.

Nike trail collections overview

Many of Nike's trail collections have seen multiple releases, year after year. Here, you can see what they are best for to make your choice easier (if our top picks aren’t what you’re looking for): 

We dissect each shoe the same way and give them identical lab treatment, regardless of their use case (technical terrain, GTX all-arounder, beginner's shoe, premium speedster, etc.). 

Cushioning: softness, shock absorption, and energy return

Nike uses different foams in its trail running shoes, and it’s good to be familiar with the terms and to know what they actually bring to the table. Standard foams are more durable, more affordable, and are often found in shoes made for slower paces. Premium foams, on the other hand, are lighter, more responsive, and usually found in race shoes where energy return is prioritized.

1. ZoomX: premium foam found in Ultrafly and Zegama. 
2. ReactX: sounds like premium, but is actually a standard foam found in newer versions of Pegasus Trail and Wildhorse.
3. React: standard foam found in older versions of Pegasus Trail, Wildhorse, and Terra Kiger.  
4. Cushlon: standard foam found in older versions of Juniper Trail.
5. Cushlon 3.0: also standard foam found in Terra Kiger 10.

If you want to learn more about the technologies behind each foam and how Nike got to use them, head over to our nerdy guide on running shoe foams.

Softness of Nike trail running shoes

Immediate comfort after the first step-in is usually assessed by the overall fit (is the shoe too tight or just right) and the softness of the platform. Runners often directly correlate midsole softness with comfort. 

While softer midsoles have their place in road running, in trail running the story is slightly different, given that the terrain is wildly varied and changes along the way. Very cushioned and soft trail running shoes could simply be too high off the ground and too soft to provide adequate stability and confidence. 

When it comes to comfort, in the long run (literally), what matters more is good shock absorption and energy return. These are so-called leg-saving features; the better they are, the bigger the chances of feeling fresh for longer. 

Shock absorption and energy return in Nike trail runners

We test the shock absorption and energy return of running shoes following the gold standard: ASTM F1976-13. This means that we remove the upper, lock the shoe in place, and then drop an 8.5 kg mass from a height of 50 mm, resulting in a total energy input of 5 J. 

We do this in 2 places: at the forefoot and at the heel, at 75% and 12% of inner shoe length. Same places where we measure stack heights. The first 25 repetitions mimic a natural break-in, and we use the last 5 to calculate the average and publish the results. 

Looking at the numbers, shock absorption in the 110-130 SA range is considered moderate, and high when it’s above 130 SA. Energy return, on the other hand, is in the moderate range when the shoe scores 55-65% on the lab test, and high when it scores above 65%. 

Traction in Nike trail running shoes

When it comes to traction, we perform 2 tests: 

1. The traction test
2. The lug depth test.

However, in trail running, there are more nuances than in road running. We need to look at the shape of the lugs, their orientation, and the general tread pattern. Also, Nike uses 2 different compounds: ATC (all terrain compound) and, on rare occasions, Vibram Megagrip Litebase.

Starting with the traction test, we follow the SATRA TM144 methodology, and measure the dynamic coefficient of traction in critical (wet) conditions. The higher the coefficient of traction, the better. We always recommend going for at least 0.25 or, if you want to be super sure, then higher than 0.45. 

And then, we have to look at the tread patterns to better understand which terrains the outsoles are (not) made for. 

Easy trails: Nike road-to-trail or hybrid shoes

Easy trails like well-maintained park paths, dry hard-packed trails, gravel, even single tracks with no obstacles or mud, all ask for shallower lugs (less than 3 mm) that are often stacked closer together. They don’t need to bite hard into the ground because the ground is mostly flat and dry. 

These shoes don’t have to feature a toe bumper, protective reinforcements, and so on. Some runners even use road runners for light trails. When used on both roads and trails, we call them hybrid shoes. 

Shoes for mixed terrain: versatility is key

Trail shoes for mixed terrain are usually called do-it-all shoes or workhorses. We want them to be able to tackle everything but to (often) excel on moderate terrain. As you can already guess, these trail shoes have 3-4 mm deep lugs and can look significantly more aggressive than gravel shoes.

Technical terrain: rocks, mud, obstacles

When it comes to technical terrain, we can encounter different sharp obstacles on the trails, roots and rocks, and many of those can be quite slippery. Or, we can get stuck in the mud. Trail outsoles for mud feature sharp, deep (at least 4 mm), aggressive lugs that are placed further apart from each other. Trail outsoles for rocky terrain must be stiffer because you don’t want to twist your ankle and their lugs are placed closer together. They don’t have to be too deep (3.5 mm and higher works). 

Nike ACG: from outdoor vibes to outdoor performance?

ACG stands for All Conditions Gear. This line was first launched in 1989 for people who wanted to explore the outdoors and look good. Until recently, these shoes were:

• Focused on style 
• Made for travel, walking, camping, urban exploration, and everyday wear with outdoor vibes 
• Prioritizing comfort over performance
• Not proper trail running shoes, even though they may look so.

As an example, have a look at Nike ACG Mountain Fly 2 Low. However, things have changed. Today, Nike also releases ACG updates of its legit trail runners, adding some updates. That’s how we got Nike ACG Pegasus Trail and Nike ACG Ultrafly Trail. 

With rumors spreading around that the ACG Ultrafly is wider than the regular Ultrafly, looking at our lab data, the ACG version is wider, but the difference is so small that we doubt you would notice it. The toebox is 0.5 mm wider, and the shoe is 2 mm wider.

More ground feel or more comfort in Nike trail running shoes

Most beginners tend to go with higher stack height, thinking cushioning is everything. And, while that works for light trails and slower paces, when you’re doing races or fartlek runs, especially on more demanding terrain, being closer to the ground helps with precision. Even if your proprioception matches that of elite athletes, it'll still amount to nothing on technical terrain if you choose to run in high-stacked trail shoes.

With trail running shoes going from 14.6 mm to 47.3 mm at the heel, Nike trail runners average at 32.7 mm. The average for all trail running shoes is 32.9 mm.  

Of course, stack height is not the determining factor for the trail terrain. Technical terrain asks for harder outsoles, stiffer platforms, more protection, while some runners take even road runners to hard-packed flat trails. 

Heel drop too high? Lab data overview

Heel-to-toe drop is the difference in height between the heel and the forefoot. If this is a new topic for you, we wholeheartedly recommend reading our Heel to Toe Drop: The Ultimate Guide. In short, lower heel drop utilizes lower leg muscles (foot, Achilles, calves), and higher heel drop uses higher-leg muscles more. Why is this relevant here? 

The average heel drop for road shoes is 8.6 mm and it’s lower for trail shoes, sitting at 7.6 mm. Nike trail running shoes, based on our current lab data, go from 3.7 mm to 12.8 mm, with an average of 8.7 mm. This tells us that Nike, on average, offers trail runners with a higher drop, and you should be aware of that. 

Trail running shoes with a higher heel drop offer less ground feel and usually more comfort, while those with a low drop make the feet work more, which means stronger foot muscles and also higher precision. 

Finding durable Nike trail running shoes

As terrain gets more difficult, so does the need for more durable trail shoes. In our lab, we perform 3 durability tests: on the toebox, heel padding, and outsole. 

For these tests, we use a Dremel to intentionally (try to) damage the shoe. Then we assign a durability score based on the result: how wide and deep the dent is. We assign 5/5 when the Dremel barely touches the shoe and 1/5 when the dent is deep and wide or the Dremel simply goes through the upper entirely. The toebox in the video above scored 2/5.

The heel padding area in the video above was assigned a score of 5/5.

The durability of the toebox is especially important if you often encounter sharp obstacles and love running on single tracks through thick forest, with low pointy bushes or sharp rocks. The heel padding can suffer premature wear and tear if you have a pointy heel (bony bump/growth), if you don’t use a shoe horn when putting the shoe on, or if your heel tends to slip in the shoe.

This outsole ended up with a dent that was 1.0 mm deep. This is right around the average. 

When testing the durability of the outsole, we don’t assess the damage, but use a tire tread gauge instead. We get a reading on the depth of the dent, and the deeper it is, the less durable the outsole.