Our oldest son is heading on a trip with Camp Widjiwagan.

I've become a bit of a footwear minimalist, but they want good hiking boots (for reasons I understand).

What ideas do you have for good boots on a budget? Is there any chance that I can out of this for $50? $75?

At size 6 - 7, we're on the weird threshold between boy's and men's sizes. Help me stay away from the 3-digit investment!

Check Sierra trading post--they have lots of deals, and you can usually find a good coupon.

Columbia discount store or fleet farm

Always good places to find deals. I was actually hoping to see if anyone had favorite brands and/or models of boots that work for a 11-year-old boy. I can always hunt down the best deal any number of places.

So which brands do you like? What have you seen for a solid boot with ankle support/coverage?

I did some looking and thinking. I've never tried these, but I know some BWCA folks are very sold on the OTB (now made by New Balance) Abyss boots (drains water out of the sole). Knowing that the YMCA is fanatical about wet-footing, I think these might be a great boot for our son. They carry a wide range of sizes. And Amazon's price ($41 at present) seems like a steal. Even if he only wears them for this one week, I'll be satisfied!

New Balance Abyss II 6"



Who knows? If they perform well for him, maybe this will be my next footwear solution...

I realize I am mostly having a conversation with myself, but the New Balance Abyss are light, fit comfortably, and appear well-constructed. They won't be field tested until later in the summer, but I give these boots a solid recommendation for canoeing kids if you want the protection afforded by a boot.

quote mogos: "I realize I am mostly having a conversation with myself, but the New Balance Abyss are light, fit comfortably, and appear well-constructed. They won't be field tested until later in the summer, but I give these boots a solid recommendation for canoeing kids if you want the protection afforded by a boot."

It may seem like you're talking to yourself, but there are some of us listening.

I'm trying to find a good solution for my daughter too. My wife uses NEOS trekkers, so we got my daughter a pair. They ended up leaking on the second day trip, and they were a replacement for another leaky pair of NEOS. We let her wear rain boots for short jaunts, but they would not be good for long portages, so I'm interested in finding a solution. I don't know if she'd be willing to wet foot, though.

You could also try www.campmor.com for discounted boots.

Our kids use keen sandals for our canoe trips (in the fall they add wool-blend socks) and wet-foot it until camp, where they put on light athletic shoes. So, I can't really give a good recommendation on boots. But if I were to look for some, outside of good traction, the ability to drain water well would be something I'd look for. Even for mild wetness from something like rain, the ability to breath and dry quicker would be nice.

Let us know how the NB work out.

Those Abyss boots are sweet, I have a pair and love em. My only quibble is the laces (or maybe the lacing system) isn't great. Hard to tighten the laces all the way down the foot, at least on mine which look the same as the Amazon pic. If yours are the same I could see this being a major frustration issue for a kid.