Salomon Men's Wings Pro 2 Trail Running Shoes (13)

I would not pay up for GTX. The 'rain proofing' lasts a few hours and is amazing while it does (puddles, rain, whatever - blocked completely). You definitely want to pair these with a good set of gaiters (I did not) to keep the water from entering the tops of the shoes.I took them on a 5 day hike of the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail during what I later found was a named storm hitting the southeast. What I found was that by day 2, these were wet inside. By day 3 they were soaked. By day 4 they were lead weights on my foot and the insoles were sliding/squishing into the toe of the shoes. By day 5, I literally dumped a half cup of water out of them in the morning.The cleats on the bottom of these are magnificent for traction in dirt and mud (they saved me from falling more than once). However, on rock - especially wet rock - they become like ice skates. I found that if I could hang a cleat on a notch in the rock or land my center of mass with a cleat behind the point of the rock then I could maintain decent traction on dry rock. I had very little success on wet rock (in fact I had magnificent falls at least twice on wet rock).Bottom line: These are good for short/rainy runs, trips, etc. on cold to mild-temperature days (75'ish degrees). On long trips or in temperatures above 75 degrees, I think you will regret choosing GTX because your sweat and/or rain will eventually pool inside them. I hear the non-GTX version of this shoe also wears hot, but I cannot confirm that because I have not tried them. However, I have tried and believe you would like the New Balance Vazee Summit 2 (or similar later edition of the brand/model). It is not water proof, but it does breathe and at least has a chance of drying out once soaked.