From the late 1980s through to the end of the 1990s, I exclusively used hiking boots on all of my backpacking trips. They were waterproof, durable, grippy on slippery surfaces, and provided protection and stability for my feet and ankles. At the time, it was what (almost) everyone used for extended
I hike in the Intermountain West (USA) region primarily. So, anything from packed dirt forest floors, mud, gravel, stream crossings and boulders.