RANDOLPH, N.H. —
On a beautiful weekend morning, Mel Elam of New Hampshire hits the trail at Mount Adams with her best friend Michaela, and her cat, Floki.
“Everyone’s always like ‘Oh my goodness. You’re hiking with a cat!” and it seems to be, like, a pretty cool thing. Everybody just seems to love her.” says Mel Elam.
Mel and Floki started hiking together late last year, and after nine months of climbing peaks together, "Floki the Adventure Cat" has finished summiting all 48 of New Hampshire’s more than 4,000-foot mountains.
It was back in 2014 when Mel was hiking Mount Washington, her first summit that was higher than 4,000 feet, that she saw a man hiking with his cat. That experience would later inspire her to hike with Floki.
“I went to the shelter to look at this little black kitten and Floki was in the kennel below him, and she reached out and grabbed me... I just knew. She picked me in that moment and so I thought to myself, ‘Why Not? If he could hike with his cat, maybe I can.’” says Mel.
On July 17, Mel and Floki geared up to hike Mount Washington for the fundraising event called Seek The Peak in support of Mount Washington’s Observatory. Mel and Floki raised more than $3,000.