Hey guys! I'm in the market for a new pair of boots. I've had a heavy, leather, steel-toed pair for the past ten years that my parents bought me when I was 11, and I think it's seriously time to upgrade. I do hope to hike the AT sometime in the near future, but I want to get many more shorter hikes under my belt first. So this pair will be used for nothing longer than probably 3-4 nights at the most, but overwhelmingly just day hikes or single overnights.

I've seen everyone in the forums warning against GTX shoes because they are hot and take forever to dry. Are shoes advertised as "waterproof" going to cause me the same problems? I am less worried about the drying-out problem because I only plan on shorter trips that could be easily cancelled if it looks like the weekend will be nasty.

Lastly, my kiddie leather boots have a really high ankle, but a lot of the boots I have been looking at are really low, like tennis shoes. But I'm instinctually drawn to the mid, believing that they have some mystical benefits for ankle support. Is this true? I do have a history of easily twisting my ankles, so if the mid could help me with that then I will get them. The problem is that almost all the mids I'm finding are ALSO waterproof/GTX... hence the queries in this post. Should I go for mid and waterproof, or get low and non-waterproof?