wilderness kids   

Admittedly, I was a little skeptical when my friend mentioned that I should try fabric booties out for our daughter, Kaia. Shelley had used them with her grandson on many a winter hike. He's pictured here playing in the snow. Our baby girl was a mere eight months old and to say keeping footwear on her was impossible could be an understatement. The moment she'd get comfortable in the carrier, she'd kick off whatever covering graced her little feet-that is, until STONZ. So with her recommendation, I put my doubts aside and went into the testing phase with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised.

The first journey in this gear test was a day of snowshoeing near Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario's near North. We set out on an easy route that included Ragged Falls. It was a perfect sunny day, albeit a little on the cold side. The booties were loaned from Shelley's grandson and they were a little large for Kaia, but with the liners in they still performed very well. The booties have two cinch cords with toggles. The top on sits horizontally, while the one at the ankle is on an angle. This configuration helped the footwear stay perfectly in place even with them being a little too large for her tiny feet. The soft liner and waterproof shell kept Kaia's feet toasty warm and dry.

One day of testing isn't enough to have a product featured on OAC so when we returned home, Kaia received her own pair. She's worn these with the liners on the coldest of winter walks. They've been brilliant in Spring and Fall and we even used them, without the liners, on a wilderness canoe trip in the Summer when it rained for days on ends.

I was concerned about how STONZ would hold up for keeping feet dry once my little girl started walking and running. Not only did her feet stay dry, but she seemed to have good stability when walking. The boots even perform well when placed on the wrong feet as they were in this photo of Kaia.

Moms (and Dads too), be sure to give the booties by STONZ a second look when you are considering outdoor-rated footwear that the little ones will keep on their feet.

STONZ is a Canadian company and their products are Canadian made. For more information, please visit the STONZ website.

Written by Laurie March
Photo of the boy playing in the snow, by Shelley Lauzon
Photo of Kaia wearing her STONZ booties, by Kirk Reardon