When I ordered my first pair of Nick's Handmade Boots, I followed their advice and ordered a half size lower than normal. This didn't work out of me so I ended up returning them for my normal size. So going through two of Nick's lead time cycles meant it was 11 months between order time and arrival time. The week before the boots arrived I dropped a retaining wall brick on my right big toe (clad in a hiking boots rather than working boots). I didn't think that much of it. The morning after my Nick's arrived, I put them on they felt great. I honestly forgot about them until about mid afternoon when that toe began hurting. (My iDevice told me I had walked about 10 miles that day working our little hobby ranch.) I had a good sized blister just below my big toe. When I looked closer, I realized that part of my foot was swollen from that brick incident. I did not wear my Nick's boots for several days while I nursed the foot back to help. Wore them all day for the first time yesterday (about 18 hours of working and walking) and they did great. Thirty days from now, I might push this to a 5 star review if all goes well.

These boots are the best fitting a best quality built boots I’ve had. Even though the lead time is long it’s definitely worth the wait. I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a quality hand made boot to wear a pair of Nicks.

Ridgeline 5"" standard version in the weather shield brown leather. These are good sturdy boots, I have only had them a couple weeks so haven't gotten really broke in yet. It's January so lots of wet and snowy terrain so far. I might appreciate a little softer outsole material for this type of hiking.

Four to five years ago I wrote a note to Nick's describing a hiking boot that I'd like to see them make. I specified it right down to the Vibram Sierra soles. When Nick's announced the Ridgeline I immediately ordered a pair built to my measurements. I had them use the measurements from my Builder Pros order but opted to go down a width to make sure my feet didn't slide around.

From a performance standpoint they are great! With added thick leather insoles and medium weight wool socks they are comfortable to wear all day on the trail. I no longer experience mashed toes on the steep downhills as the uppers keep my feet in place. After break in I haven't had any hot spots as my feet don't slide around in the boots... they stay put. After three active years of day hiking in the Catskills and on the Appalachian Trial they have held up very well with routine maintenance--no repairs to date.

I don't know if it will ever happen as life tends to get in the way, but I'm considering an AT thru-hike. If I can pull that off I'd buy another pair of Ridgelines and swap them off every month or so. I think two pair would survive the entire 2,200 miles and giving each pair a break for cleaning, drying, re-greasing, and new laces would be a far better option than going through 5 pair of synthetic hiking boots that would be miserable to wear for half or more of their life!

I love these boots. Beautiful. Tough. Well made. Worth every penny. Hats off to the boot makers of Nicks Boots.