Begbie Falls ©Dave Olson

Since I actually got my new boots on Father’s day, I’ve been wearing them as often as I can. Full grain leather boots probably need to be broken in a little more than your average synthetic footwear. The boots feel pretty solid and support my ankle well. My one complaint was one lacing hook was a bit tight and wore on the lace until I expanded the hook with a screwdriver.

My first real outing with the boots was an 8km or so hike into Begbie Falls and back. I loaded up my daypack with 5 litres of water (a platypus big zip and a couple of water bottles), a couple of books and my camera. The trail was pretty diverse with plenty of roots, rocks and fairly steep grade to test drive. The weather even through in a bit of rain so I could check out the traction too.

The boots performed really well. Despite the wet rocks and mud, I didn’t slip at all. The boots

felt very secure and solid. My feet felt well protected and my ankles had great support.

When I picked up the boots at Universal Footwear, I opted for a slightly larger size than I originally tried on. I’m glad I did. I suspect that the smaller size would have been torment. Even on a long decline, my toes didn’t feel crammed into the toe box and there was no discomfort. A couple of times, I felt a small amount of pain in the balls of my feet, but that went away almost immediately.

After spending around three hours walking, my feet didn’t hurt but were a bit fatigued. Even though I opted for a pair of Superfeet insoles, there may not be quite enough padding for what I was doing. I’m not sure what the solution is for that but maybe a bit more break in time will solve the problem.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with how these boots perform and I expect they will get better over time.

And the best thing of all was the beautiful scenery and the falls.