The Altra Experience Wild 3+ Are Currently My Comfiest Trail Shoes
Enjoy a wide toe box, high cushion, and maximum traction, all without zero drop
Altra Experience Wild 3+ are notable for their low-not-zero drop, wide toe box, high cushion, excellent Vibram Megagrip traction, and breathable mesh uppers. They are among the most comfortable trail shoes in my quiver, and go-to’s for a majority of running and hiking until proven otherwise. The third edition is an overall improvement on the second, addressing some issues, while at the same time slightly decreasing breathability.
- Price: $165
- M’s Weight: 10.4 oz | W’s Weight: 8.8 oz
- Heel-Forefoot-Drop: 32-28-4
- Lugs: ~5 mm | Rockplate: No
- Width: Average trending wide | Overall Fit: True to size
- Wide Sizes Available: no
- On Trail/Off trail/Pavement? Yes/Yes/No
- Consider Its Peers: Altra Wild (not plus). Topo Mtn Racer. Altra Olympus. HOKA Speedgoat.
- Pros: Extremely comfortable out of the box. Wide toe box. Universally moderate drop. Great traction. Breathable mesh. Well-cushioned midsole. Cushy tongue. Reinforced heel.
- Cons: Wide toe box creates sloshing effect when traversing perpendicular to slope angle. Tongue configuration reduces breathability. Potential for Achilles chafing.
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Expanded Pros
Extremely comfortable out of the box: Altra Experience Wild 3 are the type of shoes you can put on and immediately go running or hiking with, no break-in period required. While fit and comfort is subjective, I haven’t had any issues yet. The only potential chaffing spot is the extended, reinforced heel.
Wide toe box: For long trail days, I always want the comfort of a wide toe box. This creates room for your feet to swell, and your toes to splay. Thumbs up here!
Universally moderate drop: Historically, I wore Lone Peaks because they were comfy, not because of the zero drop; I’ve never been a zero drop guy. With the Experience series, I get access to Altra comfort without compromising on angle or cushion. The 4mm drop is extremely well-rounded, and nearly all runners and hikers will find to be satisfying.
Great traction: It’s hard to argue with the best-in-class Vibram Megagrip Outsole. This rubber is ultra grippy, sticky, good-on wet surfaces, long lasting, and shaped into aggressive triangular lugs, 4-5mm tall.
Breathable mesh: The majority surface of Altra Experience Wild 3+’s upper is a simple, highly breathable mesh, optimized for breathability.
Well-cushioned midsole: With a 32mm heel stack height, this shoe is classified as a high cushion model. Wild 3+ gets Altra’s latest and greatest Ego P35 foam, which blends softness and bounciness for an overall cushy and responsive ride. It’s not the bounciest, nor the softest; rather a good blend of both. No complaints here!
Cushy tongue: A common pain point for me is pressure from the top-most laces. Wild 3+ gets one of the cushiest tongues we’ve seen in a while, that eliminates the top as potential pressure point.
Reinforced heel: Until now, Altra’s heel design was famously crushable. Those who like to slide in and out of their shoes always flattened or damaged the heel quickly. But Wild 3+ seems to have fixed this, the low half of the heel now has stiffness, and the upper half is reinforced with extra density.
Expanded Cons
Not a lot to call out yet: To be honest, it’s hard to find much wrong with these shoes, but I will re-visit this section once I have more mileage on them.
Wide toe box creates sloshing effect when traversing perpendicular to slope angle: While I love wide toe box shoes and choose them most of the time, they can be a liability on rugged terrain. Especially when traversing across steep slopes when your feet tend to slide downhill perpendicular to the shoe angle. With extra room, your forefoot may drift about inside, creating unwanted movement inside the shoe. For technical running and hiking, we recommend an average width, rather than wide-width toe box. Note, this is not a specific issue with Wild 3+, but applies to all wide toe boxes.
Tongue configuration reduces breathability: The thick padded tongue is going to hold heat more than a thinner tongue. While I’m personally happy to have that cushioning (see above in the pros section), other may find it to be overkill and create more sweat than benefit. The sewn-in tongue collar is another breathability reducer. Essentially, it’s an extra layer of fabric connecting either side of the tongue to the lace eyelet infrastructure. The goal of this is to block debris from entering, but it has the unintended side effect of doubling layering fabric, which builds heat and reduces breathability. Not by a huge amount, but it is noticeable.
Potential for Achilles chafing: While it hasn’t caused an issue yet, I could see running into an issue with the extended, reinforced heels. They’re taller than any Altras to have come before, and for some people, may rub the Achilles the wrong way.
Who Should Choose It
Choose Altra Experience Wild 3+ if…
- You want a wide toe box
- You want high cushion
- You want maximum traction
- You aren’t picky about drop and want something moderate
- You like a cushy tongue
Don’t Choose Altra Experience Wild 3+ if…
- You’re wearing them on technical, sloped terrain where the wide toe box could be a liability; instead choose an average width shoe like HOKA Speedgoat
- Super narrow feet who don’t ever need a wide toe box; instead choose something average width like HOKA Speedgoat
- You want a zero drop version of this shoe; instead choose Altra Olympus
- You want a trail/road hybrid; in which case choose something with less traction like HOKA Challenger or Mount To Coast H1
Vs the competition, and Previous/Alternate Versions
Alta Experience Wild 3+ vs Altra Olympus
Olympus is likely the closest shoe in Altra’s lineup in terms of design. Essentially, it is the zero drop equivalent of Wild 3+. Both have a tall heel stack height (Wild 32mm, Olympus 33mm), wide toe box, mesh upper, and Vibram megagrip rubber outsoles. Olympus has less tongue cushion, an overall wider fit, and does not use the brand’s newest foam – Ego P35. So unless you want zero drop or have wide feet, we recommend Wild 3+ over Olympus.
Altra Experience Wild 3 vs 3+
As far as we can tell, the only difference is that the 3+s cost $15 more and get an outsole upgrade from Altra’s proprietary MaxTrac to Vibram MegaGrip. The latter is known for better performance on wet surfaces. Most of the time, you wouldn’t notice a difference. But from a technical perspective, the 3+s are a better choice.
Altra Experience Wild 3 vs 2
Compared to Wild 2, Wild 3 comes with a few notable changes.
- Both have a wide toe box, mesh upper, 4mm drop, same weight (10.4 oz for men’s size 9), and same overall design philosophy and use case
- The 3 has slightly more aggressive tread
- The 3 has newer, better foam Ego P35
- The 3 is also available as 3+ with Vibram rubber outsoles instead of MaxTrac
- The 3 has a rebuilt, stiffer heel that is less prone to crushing, but minor potential to chafe Achilles
- The 3 has a cushier tongue which is comfier, but holds a bit more heat
- The 3 has more protection from a full coverage rubber toe bumper
- The 3 has a gusseted tongue that blocks debris, but adds an extra layer of fabric that reduces breathability
- The 2 has slightly more breathable mesh
- The 2 is very slightly narrower in the mid-foot and heel
Altra Experience Wild 3 vs Topo Mtn Racer
Wild 3+ and Topo Mtn Racer 4 are extremely similar shoes. They have similar stack heights (32mm and 33mm respectively), similar drop (4mm and 5mm respectively), wide toe boxes, breathable mesh uppers, and Vibram Megagrip rubber outsoles. Mtn Racer 4 is the lighter of the two shoes by a noticeable amount, 8.4 oz compared to Wild’s 10.4. But it was also flagged near universally for bad achilles chaffing, so between them we recommend the Wild 3+.
HOKA Speedgoat 7
While it’s not directly comparable to Wild Experience 3, HOKA Speedgoat isn’t all that different, and it is definitely the elephant in the trail running room. We know lots of folks will be comparison shopping. You could make the case that Altra Experience Wild 3 are like Speedgoats with a wider toe box, cushier tongue, and a bit less cushion. But that’s something of a stretch. They are different enough that won’t say either is better, but it is fair to say that the Altras are comfier, and Speedgoat is better on technical terrain.
A brief and very unofficial history of Altra Experience Wild 3+
For starters, “Experience” is Altra brand lingo for low-not-zero drop, and applies to both road and trail running shoes. Here’s how the zero drop brand got there:
- Altra popularized zero drop wide toe box shoes; their flagship Lone Peak went on to become one of the best selling trail runners of all time
- Topo Athletic realized that a subset of Altra’s customers didn’t want zero drop, but bought them anyway because they wanted the wide toe box; thus the low-not-zero drop Ultraventure and Terraventure were popularized
- Altra realized that Topo was right, and that they could sell more shoes by offering low drop models alongside zero drop; thus the Experience series was born in 2023. The first Wilds came in 2024, with a new version released each year thereafter.
Altra Experience Wild 3+ Review Conclusion
If nothing else changes, Altra Experience Wild 3+ is on track to be my preferred trail runner of 2026. It just checks every single box: wide forefoot, moderate drop, high cushion, good quality foam, excellent traction, and most of all extremely comfortable. There is just nothing to complain about, which is why we’re confident you’ll love these shoes. Happy trails!
