Adventures With Floki

Hiking buddies are important.

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

Well, today you're going to meet a couple of people and have char 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 M Washington for a single purpose to raise money for the Weather Observatory on t. It's called Seek the Peak.

Today, we're going to meet a cou those hikers who have a particul to tell about their ascent to the summit of Mount Washingto.

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 m so Flokies' face won't be away f. Hello Flokie.

Male, Female?

Fema.

And she goes with you on hikes?

She does.

She's been up all the 48.

She ha.

Oh, that's amazing.

Absolutely.

Amazing world travel.

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 th today because it be quite slow.

We're going with the black cap t which is described as a moderate.

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 o the big one, Mt.

Washington.

Okay.

Good.

Shall we?

Sure.

Okay.

All right.

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

Oh.

Okay.

So pretty.

There's no breeze today.

It's one of Mell and Flokie's fa 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 re.

Do you want to come out?

Mell has a story to share about hiking with Flokie and their recent trip up Mount W. Mell's partner, Chris Smullen, I.

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

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

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

Animals are an important part of Mel's I.

She hiked for six years with her chocolate lab Leah.

Oh, gosh.

Leah and I were very, very close she was with me through everythi.

And she was just like man's best basically.

Always, always with me outside.

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

She always had to be there.

She was with me through all my pregnancies.

Leah helped Mel through the COVI and a divorce, but age and injur forced the reliable hiking partn into retirement with Leah off the trails.

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

And so that killed me when I had to retire her from th because I started to hike with h and started to train with her fo the peak.

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

We stayed on the smaller stuff j because she was older when she s. After Leah died, Mel drove to a looking for another companion.

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

And she just reached out and gra.

And since then, she hasn't let g. 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 w and call her like a purr box because she would never stop car.

All she did was per and she just to be loved and just wanted to b. Oh, look, they got an Andy too.

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

And Flokie, like she said, reach and grabbed her.

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

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

And so it just seemed fitting.

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

So I was like, Well, why not?

Let's see.

Apparently, apparently was meant because here we are.

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

One of our first bigger mountain I did a North twin and we were going up and I'd sto to take a break at the river tha alongside the trail on the way o.

And Flokie had never seen a rive and it didn't even think about I.

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 so she jumps out of the water, c submerged herself and just runs.

And it is the funniest and obviously not to her, but in that moment, I don't thin 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, ente Mel hopes they make a connection with peop to thousands, literally thousands of strangers.

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

So it's it's overwhelming and it's wonde I'm getting a lot of messages sa thank you so much.

Like, I used to love that mounta 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 aga.

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

They just can't picture how thei cat might climb a mountain.

We get picky when she pulls some.

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

Bubbles is probably isn't going outside.

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

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 budd recently got together to participate in S the Peak.

Today we're hiking for seek the.

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.

Seek The peak is an annual event that draws hundreds of participa.

The peak refers to the summit.

That's where they'll find the we observatory that they raise mone.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mel's team will use the Tuckerman Ravi 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.

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 d 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 rav to seek the peak.

We're going to the summit of Mou Washington.

Beck is already down to where I 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 latel 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 F. 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 hi two for her 100th.

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

Why are you doing Seek 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 jus.

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

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

And through there I made some friends and found Me.

Yeah.

Then following her and following her around ever si and Flokie always puts a smile o and everyone else.

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

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

He's intensely interested in her.

He occasionally will break into 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 d she's as big a fan.

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

So it's what started it all for.

One day, 2014, I did my first on I trained really hard and I lost a lot of weight and and I fell in love with being ou and so.

I just kept going.

And I stopped for a couple of ye because I had my daughter and wo.

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

And so it kind of got away from 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 nin.

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

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

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

That's Tuckermand Ravine right t. The team takes a break at Hermit.

They are 2.4 miles along the tra Mel and Flokie have hike throughout New England.

In less than one year, they clim New Hampshire's 4000 foot mounta.

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 it can be great at all.

It's good, like if I just want to get out f. And I do that a lot at night when I get out of work, I'll go.

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.

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

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

So it's my first time at Mount W 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 f about eight, nine years, nine ye.

And I actually hiked this in 201 wasn't a hiker yet, so I don't c. Flokie And Mel are trail celebri.

Photos and questions are always.

Wow, so cool.

Is this her first summit?

Oh, no.

She's done over 120.

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

Wow, that's amazing.

That's awesome.

I thought it was the coolest thi.

Yeah.

So I'm trying to think.

I think I saw her on social medi.

Same.

But Mikayla, which is a mutual frien we want to hike in together.

And I became friends instantly.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't even bat an eye anymore.

I forget.

I forget that she's th I'm kind of used to just like lo at the two of them together as a package deal.

Like I'm just used to seeing them togethe.

It just looks normal to me for sure.

But she's along for the ride.

Just enjoys looking around, seei all the people and just being ou I think so.

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

So.

And out here you would never kno.

They just seem to belong togethe.

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.

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

The head wall of Tuckerman Ravin.

What do you think about this tra.

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 to.

Is that what you're thinking abo.

Yeah, I'm thinking about taking breath.

I listen to that bird.

Oh, so see the people?

That's her going with the head w. Oh, my goodness.

I love the Ravine It is beautifu.

That waterfall.

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

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

So it's a good climb.

Anybody watch your head.

(Music) some simple surprises along the.

Keep the hikers energized, All r. Yeah.

We'll have a good rest of your h. 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 because she kind of seeing her through her eyes, if you will.

You know what?

It's like out her I definitely kept me coming back.

She gets pretty bundled up in the winter, honestly, right here, even in th 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 hea.

Flokie enjoying life.

Yes.

Check out The view.

We came from all the way down th doing great.

The shoppers there.

Oh God.

So beautiful.

It just makes you forget about everything else in the wor it's relaxing.

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

It's like I always say, trail th.

It just kind of helps with life.

And you get to be out in the woo and there are studies that show how good that is for y 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 morni.

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.

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 that you didn't think that you c. And it's just a it's a really aw feeling.

Well, you and I can't go in, but there's a little time for ce 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 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 co who enjoys it as much as I do mo.

And so that's that's what's impo.

And that's kind of like what wen And she did.

But I seem to have gotten back.

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

So.

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

So I'm going to stop here and tu go back down and say goodbye to 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 such as we do as it has been, yo But carry on.

Absolutely.

Okay.

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

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Thank you.

Does she speak any Old Norse?

I don't know.

I've never tried.