Hiking buddies are important.

Not only are they good company, but they often provide a little boost when you're feeling flat.

Well, today you're going to meet a couple of people and have characters who spend quite a bit of time on the trail together and not without being noticed.

Every year on a particular day, hundreds of hikers converge on Mt.

Washington for a single purpose to raise money for the Weather Observatory on the summit.

It's called Seek the Peak.

Today, we're going to meet a couple of those hikers who have a particular story to tell about their ascent to the summit of Mount Washington.

Lucky.

She's like, I don't want to look right now.

Melissa Elam, right?

Yes.

Got it.

Yes.

It is a pleasure to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Although you have your back to me so Flokies'’’ face won't be away from me.

Hello Flokie.

Male, Female?

Female.

And she goes with you on hikes?

She does.

She's been up all the 48.

She has.

Oh, that's amazing.

Absolutely.

Amazing world travelor.

How old is she?

She's about two and a half.

Okay.

Well, today we're going to.

You're going to be upset with the pace today because it be quite slow.

We're going with the black cap trail, which is described as a moderate climb.

It can be for sure that's the limit of my powers.

But that's okay.

We'll get we'll get along.

And along the way, you can talk about your ascent of the big one, Mt.

Washington.

Okay.

Good.

Shall we?

Sure.

Okay.

All right.

The black cap trail sits just north of Conway, New Hampshire, in the White Mountains.

Oh.

Okay.

So pretty.

There'’’s no breeze today.

it's one of Mell and Flokie's favorite getaway places.

Does she ever walk on her own?

she does.

She'll usually tell me when she's ready to get down.

Right now, she's kind of just relaxing.

Do you want to come out?

Mell has a story to share about hiking with Flokie and their recent trip up Mount Washington.

Mell's partner, Chris Smullen, is with us.

He's a photographer who records many of their hikes.

Some of the more memorable ones for me are winter hiking up a few of the 4000 footers in some pretty ridiculous weather, especially trying to keep this stuff from breaking.

But I hadn't been up a 4 thousand foot or done much hiking in the winter and with her and Flokie, it was quite the experience.

Animals are an important part of Mel's life.

She hiked for six years with her chocolate lab Leah.

Oh, gosh.

Leah and I were very, very close.

She she was with me through everything.

And she was just like man's best friend, basically.

Always, always with me outside.

I couldn't be anywhere in the house without her being around me.

She always had to be there.

She was with me through all my pregnancies.

Leah helped Mel through the COVID pandemic and a divorce, but age and injuries forced the reliable hiking partner into retirement with Leah off the trails.

Mel continued along, and she was just like my best friend.

And so that killed me when I had to retire her from the trail because I started to hike with her and started to train with her for seak the peak.

And I never brought her up any of the big mountains with me.

We stayed on the smaller stuff just because she was older when she started.

After Leah died, Mel drove to a shelter looking for another companion.

And so I went to the shelter and went originally to look at a little black cat named Skipper and Flokie was in the cage above him.

And she just reached out and grabbed me.

And since then, she hasn't let go.

Flokie and Mel are trail buddies.

There's just something different about her from the start.

She was very loving towards me immediately, like, stuck to me.

Like glue to me would not leave my side and we would laugh and call her like a purr box because she would never stop caring.

All she did was per and she just wanted to be loved and just wanted to be near me.

Oh, look, they got an Andy too.

Mel needed, you know, a companion after her previous dog past and with some other stuff that happened around the same time in her life.

And Flokie, like she said, reached out and grabbed her.

But I think she needed Flokie as much as Flokie needed her.

I had a dream that I would have a cat that I would hike with, and in the dream the name was Flokie.

And so it just seemed fitting.

When I adopted her to to name her Flokie except it was originally a boy in the dream.

So I was like, Well, why not?

Let's see.

Apparently, apparently was meant to happen because here we are.

Mel uses social media to share many of her adventures with Flokie.

One of our first bigger mountains.

I did a North twin and we were going up and I'd stop to take a break at the river that runs alongside the trail on the way out.

And Flokie had never seen a river before and it didn't even think about it.

And she goes up and she kind of looks at it and I'm watching her, and then I realize she's going to just step into it.

Oh, so it created this effect where she hit the water and then I pulled so she jumps out of the water, completely submerged herself and just runs.

And it is the funniest and obviously not to her, but in that moment, I don't think I have laughed that hard in months.

And I felt so terrible for her.

But she wasn't afraid.

She went right back to it again.

Okay, drop down.

the videos and photographs, entertain Mel hopes they make a connection with people to thousands, literally thousands of strangers.

We will never meet, enjoy our posts and the stuff that we do together.

So it's it's overwhelming and it's wonderful.

I'm getting a lot of messages saying thank you so much.

Like, I used to love that mountain and now I can't get there.

And thank you.

Your videos and your pictures are incredible and I get to kind of live it again.

And I think there's a sense of wonderment, too, that comes from people with their cats at home.

They just can't picture how thei We get picky when she pulls something.

There's a lot of really cute comments of, you know, well, Mr.

Bubbles is probably isn't going outside today.

And he's like, lounging on the couch in the sun, you know, And I love those.

And I think that, you know, a there's a contrast that makes it interesting to me.

And and and I love I love Flokie for that, too.

We'll leave Black Cat for now and head up to Mount Washington, where Mel Flokie and a group of their hiking buddies recently got together to participate in Seek the Peak.

today we're hiking for seek the peak.

This is Sandy.

Hi and Becky my friend Joe Kerry, Mikayla, Ashley, Chase, Athena and Scott and they're all part of my team and we're getting ready to go up.

Seak The peak is an annual event that draws hundreds of participants.

The peak refers to the summit.

That's where they'll find the weather observatory that they raise money for.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mel's team will use the Tuckerman Ravine trail to get there.

Yes, One end of the pack to the other end of the pack.

You know.

How's it going?

good.

Well, I felt stronger at 74 than 75.

The Tuckerman Ravine trail is a 3.6 mile hike.

All uphill.

The elevation gain is a bit more than 4200 feet.

I feel great.

It's going to be my first time doing it.

I've only hiked this route up.

Tuckerman three times and I've taken Lions head off.

But we're going to go up the ravine to seek the peak.

We're going to the summit of Mount Washington.

Beck is already down to where I did that before we started.

All right, All right.

Much better.

Have you started to sweat?

Oh, no.

I'm dripping already.

A brief glance uphill and Flokie is on her way back downhill.

Let's go back that way.

Yes.

Yeah, Yeah.

She's been going backwards lately.

I think she wants to go downhill.

I don't blame her.

All the members of Mel's hiking team know her.

They'’’re friends and they enjoy Flokie.

We met through our hiking community.

And I met Flokie through the internet.

And then I reached out Harald and yeah, we've done quite a couple for his two for her 100th.

So it was we are she was hiking her 100th and I was hiking my 99.

Why are you doing Seak the Peak?

to support Mel.

She's a great friend.

She's an awesome person, heart of gold.

And wow, her taking Flokie up is just.

Yeah, it's it's inspiring to everyone, you know?

So when I met her, I started hiking buddies at age 48, which is a group on Facebook.

And through there I made some friends and found Mel.

Yeah.

Then following her and following her around ever since and Flokie always puts a smile on my face and everyone else.

So I'm happy to be here to support her.

Flokie is in the company of friends, but not all are human.

he's intensely interested in her.

He occasionally will break into her house and go visit, so they've interacted a lot.

He's good with cats.

So no scary concerns.

But he is big and toothy and I don't think she's as big a fan.

This is Mel's fourth year raising money for the Weather Observatory.

So it's what started it all for me.

One day, 2014, I did my first one.

I trained really hard and I lost a lot of weight and and I fell in love with being out here and so I just kept going.

And I stopped for a couple of years because I had my daughter and work.

And then I went back to school to become a surgical tech and really cool.

And so it kind of got away from me for a little bit, but I started again about two years ago full time.

I finished my 48 and then we finished Flokie'’’s in nine months.

And so I just kept going and now we're out here every week.

Seek The peak is important to me because all the money that we're raising is going to the Mount Washington Observatory, which I think for me is where I go to when I want to hike a mountain.

It gives you very detailed, accurate, 36 hour out forecasts.

That's Tuckermand Ravine right there.

The team takes a break at Hermit Lake.

They are 2.4 miles along the trail.

Mel and Flokie have hike throughout New England.

In less than one year, they climbed all of New Hampshire's 4000 foot mountains.

That's 48 peaks.

But there are still times when Mel Hikes alone.

it was so much easier.

She has a lot of weight, so I find that I go a lot faster and it can be great at all.

It's good, like if I just want to get out for myself.

And I do that a lot at night when I get out of work, I'll go up.

When I do the big the big trails, I like to have her with me.

There's so many people that really enjoy seeing her so well.

First of all, I try to take her with me and just I love being out with her.

This is my first year doing the peak and it's actually I'm working on my 48 right now.

So it's my first time at Mount Washington so I'm a baby.

Good.

So far.

I mean, I've been training, getting ready for this.

All right.

This is my first seek to peak, but I've been hiking mountains for about eight, nine years, nine years now.

And I actually hiked this in 2012, but I wasn't a hiker yet, so I don't count that.

Flokie And Mel are trail celebrities.

Photos and questions are always welcome.

Wow, so cool.

Is this her first summit?

Oh, no.

She's done over 120.

You know, this will be her fourth or fifth time of Washington.

Wow, that's amazing.

That's awesome.

I thought it was the coolest thing.

Yeah.

So I'm trying to think.

I think I saw her on social media first.

Same.

But Mikayla, which is a mutual friend of ours, we want to hike in together.

And I became friends instantly.

So.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't even bat an eye anymore.

Forget.

I forget.

I forget that she's there.

I'm kind of used to just like looking up at the two of them together as a package deal.

Like I'm just used to seeing them together.

It just looks normal to me for sure.

But she's along for the ride.

Just enjoys looking around, seeing all the people and just being outside.

I think so.

I think normally she's a house cat and doesn't go outside.

So.

And out here you would never know it.

They just seem to belong together.

Very bonded, that's for sure.

But Mel is a person, and you have to love her too.

And not just Flokie you know, Mel is the person, you know, the person.

And yeah, this is part of what the team has left to face.

The head wall of Tuckerman Ravine.

What do you think about this trail?

Don't like it?

No.

Why?

I have taken it before and that head wall is just a bear.

I mean, it just go straight up.

And if we hit it in the sun, you know, for hours, it'll be torture.

Is that what you're thinking about?

Yeah, I'm thinking about taking my next breath.

I listen to that bird.

Oh, so see the people?

That's her going with the head wall.

Oh, my goodness.

I love the Ravine It is beautiful.

That waterfall.

Once you get your eyes on it, it's just incredible.

The whole hike up is really beautiful and it's a good climb.

So it's a good climb.

Anybody watch your head.

(Music) some simple surprises along the way.

Keep the hikers energized, All right?

Yeah.

We'll have a good rest of your hike.

It's good to see you.

Yeah, everyone's waiting.

The head wall is everything the hikers anticipated.

Rock scrambles wind and the rewards of effort to keep moving, to keep taking one day at a time.

Just not to give up.

Always move forward, always search for that thing and have that passion and just know that there's always going to be a light at the end of that day and you just have to hang on long enough to see it.

And I think that hiking with her definitely has helped help me for sure.

And that's why I say she rescued me because she kind of seeing her through her eyes, if you will.

You know what?

It's like out here.

I definitely kept me coming back.

She gets pretty bundled up in the winter, honestly, right here, even in the winter, as long as was not bad.

This is her favorite part and good.

Yeah, this is real.

This isn't.

Here we go.

Just about to the top of the head wall.

Flokie enjoying life.

Yes.

Check out The view.

We came from all the way down there doing great.

The shoppers there.

oh God.

So beautiful.

It just makes you forget about everything else in the world.

it's relaxing.

It's a way to kind of work out the whole week and just.

It's like I always say, trail therapy.

It just kind of helps with life stressors.

And you get to be out in the woods and there are studies that show how good that is for you and so here we are.

all right.

Lucky sunbathing.

Here we go, getting ready for the longest .8 of our life.

The entire team is within easy reach of the summit.

It's been more than 3 hours since they headed out this morning.

Any self-doubts they might have had, left behind overcoming that feeling of I can't do this.

And then you get to the top, you're like, Oh my God, I can do this and look at that view.

And it's so beautiful and you're so proud of yourself for conquering the mountain yet again that you didn't think that you could.

And it's just a it's a really awesome feeling.

Well, you and I can't go in, but there's a little time for celebration, a hug, a reminder of their success, and it's pack up and head back down.

Back on black cat Mel's had a few weeks to reflect on the Mount Washington hike.

It's the same feeling that comes to her whenever she's out on the trail.

Flokie has absolutely helped me find a lot of what went when she did and to be out in nature and to have the fresh air and dealing with a lot of loss and a lot of the trauma that I've dealt with and that a lot of people I know have dealt with just being able to get back out here and know it's not Leah, but, you know, it's another hiking companion who enjoys it as much as I do most days.

And so that's that's what's important.

And that's kind of like what went with me And she did.

But I seem to have gotten back.

And then then because I never expected any of this to happen.

So.

Well, I've just about reached the end of my tether here on the way up the mountain.

So I'm going to stop here and turn around, go back down and say goodbye to Melissa and my new friend Flokie who is ignoring me completely.

You're going to go continue on with Chris, right?

And I may see you another day.

You know, thank you so much for the it's been a pleasure to talk with you such as we do as it has been, you know, But carry on.

Absolutely.

Okay.

I'm Willem Lange and hope to see you all again on Windows to the Wild.

Support for the production of Windows to the Wild is provided by the Alice J.

Rain Charitable Trust, Baillie Charitable Foundation.

And viewers like you.

Make a gift to the wild and support the William Lange Endowment Fund established by a friend of New Hampshire PBS to learn how you can keep environmental nature and outdoor programing possible for years to come, call our development team at 6038684467.

Thank you.

Does she speak any Old Norse?

I don't know.

I've never tried.