Looking specifically in the Kingwood northeast Houston area.

Willing to go to the woodlands area too.

Looking to get fitted for trail shoes. Been running in my Brooks Ghost for the past 6 months. Ran Hill Country State Natural Area this weekend and suffered without proper trail shoes.

Or. Advice on best way to test shoes bought online - or other options.

Strictly from a fitting standpoint, my suggest would be Fleet Feet. They don't have one in Kingwood, so The Woodlands is going to be the closest location. I don't remember how much of a selection of trail shoes they have, but hopefully you can at least try on a handful of brands there to see what you like better.

For a better selection of shoes, I would imagine that you may need to go online and take advantage of a place that has free shipping both ways like Running Warehouse. You will have to order and return a number of shoes, but at least you will have a good selection to choose from.

if there's an REI in the area, they typically have a decent selection of trail shoes.

Brooks is trying to get back into the trail game. I used to run in the Ghosts and Glycerins exclusively and Cascadias, at one point, were a pretty close trail-specific surrogate from a fit standpoint (width, arch, etc) but they took a horrible design turn a few years back that happened to coincide with my first pair of HOKAs. Game over for me from that point.

Most running stores, especially in Texas, have an extremely limited number of trail shoes available. To OOs point, REI in Tomball or off of Westheimer might be your best bet. I would see who offers free shipping and returns and order a bunch and try them on at the house.

Thanks all. I frequent the hill country (nearly every other weekend). Any good spots north San Antonio? My place is out in pipe creek / lake hills.

Maybe they will have some more trail options / or staff that have that knowledge areas.

Sun and Ski May also be another option.