Cat Rucking and Classic Nordic Skiing for Cats

So we are preparing for the Long Walk. We’re supposed to write about our experiences on the trails. I totally agree with that. However, I thought we would digress a little in this post. For those of you who followed our 2000 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail in 2025, you know we received a welcome home kitten from Cat Distribution System (CDS). Many of you offered your thoughts on the kitten when he arrived, and I imagine you’d appreciate an update on how he’s doing now that he’s a foster failure (since we failed to keep him!). Turns out he fell in love with our adventurous family and is a great trail kitty.

What’s up with the AT Kitty?

We had planned to get a puppy, but CDS had other ideas.

After a few days of being home from the AT, I was working in the yard when a kitten greeted me with a loud howl. I looked at the steps and there was a small, dirty kitten screaming in distress. We couldn’t get close to it, nor could we find any evidence of a mother or sibling cats. Lihat juga SD4JHxdlc. We lured him into the house with a trail of yogurt in small bowls and then closed the door, thinking we could help him if we brought him inside. We felt really bad trapping him inside, he was so terrified, but he didn’t want to come out again. He lived for a month behind the washing machine in the kitchen. We knew it was there because food disappeared and poop appeared but we rarely saw it.

Since we weren’t ready for a kitten, we used a grocery store packing tray as a placemat for the food bowls. You can see in the photo that it has grown a little. The photo of the little kitten was taken in August and the bright photo was taken at Christmas. It had grown from about 400 grams to a whopping 4000 grams in ultralight terms, or from less than a pound to over 9 pounds.

The AT Kitty earns its trail name

Shortly after her arrival, we realized we were in for a long road to get the kitten healthy and ready for adoption. After about a month, we were able to get close to him and after about two months, he decided he would let us touch him. Continuing to call him kitty seemed unfair. With your help, we tried all kinds of AT-themed names. The best pun came from Fun Size, Catahdin. The cat hated all names, he walked away when we offered it to him. He didn’t like the sound of the words. Because he was so traumatized living in our garden, starving and trying to evade the wild animals that probably ate his mother and siblings, we developed an outdoor desensitization program for him. One late autumn day when we made our “I will take you, with me you are safe” tour of the garden, I chose arugula for my lunch. Nestled firmly in my arms, he leaned down and munched on the arugula from my hand. When we told the story to our vet, she leaned over and said, «Well, Mr. Arugula!» As a good hiker, he earned his name: Arugula, also known as Rugie.

cat fucking

The early morning sun casts the perfect shadow for the silhouette of a rolling cat.

Cat rucking. Who knew it was a thing?

We had no intention of keeping this cat. But, after a few weeks, he decided he had a crush on us and snuggled up close to us. We fell just as deeply in love with him. We informed him that we were an outdoor family and that he would have to be an adventurous kitty.

He said, «Sure!»

This is how our cat started hiking. We got him a decent backpack, but soon realized he was as picky about his gear as any long-distance hiker, so we bought a better backpack, three times as expensive. We set up his backpack to have a hammock on top, which makes things easier for both of us since he now weighs almost 10 pounds. You can crawl around the front, through the screen door and come in whenever you want. He loves it so much that he sleeps inside it, avoiding any offer of a cat bed.

Rugie walks on a leash but prefers the view from my shoulder. His longest walk was 4 1/2 miles, of which he walked about a mile. He is a fan of bear grass and open views. It can tell if there are other animals (humans, dogs, bears) long before we do.

Classic Nordic Ski for Cats

If it fits, I’m down. I like my backpack so much that I sleep in it!

Winter arrived and Nordic skiing joined us. We thought he might run like he hikes, but he hates cold feet, so he climbed onto my shoulder to stay for the winter. I told him it was too heavy to carry, but he explained that it was much more interesting than a weighted backpack and that I needed training for the Long Trail. I gave in. As we go, he leans over and headbutts me when there’s something I should notice along the way. When skiing downhill or if it snows a lot, he hides in his backpack and stays very still. When we ski on moderate terrain, he climbs up and sits in the hammock on my shoulder, shifting his weight left or right with me as I turn.

Needless to say, we attracted more than a little attention along the way. Luckily, he feels safe when he’s on my shoulders and is happy for people to ogle and pet him. After a few months, I told him I agreed, it’s much more interesting to carry than a weighted backpack. I suggested he gain a little more weight to better approximate my loaded pack for the Long Trail. He said I should back up a truck full of freeze-dried minnows and he would try it.

Getting to and from the trail

As any hiker knows, one of the difficult parts can be getting on and off the trail. Turns out he likes the car ride, as long as we don’t back out. The planes are good too. He likes to look out the window to see where we are going.

He’s also much more relaxed when we head out onto a familiar trail. New turns or trailheads receive additional inspection. Like any good hiker, you’re relaxed and ready to head home for a snack at the end of the hike. When we get home, he waits for permission to unload from the car, then goes inside with his leash and plops down on the front door mat so I can take his gear off.

For Christmas, he flew with us to my sister’s house in North Carolina. What a champion. While there, to reinforce how happy we should be that he decided to stay, he learned to play fetch with his golden retriever cousin. Some days he drives us crazy bringing his balls of merino wool for us to throw to him. We thought that the CDS had deposited a cat. Maybe we have a golden retriever in a cat suit.

So the cat that didn’t stay stayed, but it won’t go with us to the Long Road. He will stay home in Montana with my sister and his dog cousins. My sister says he and the golden retriever can play fetch.

Develop endurance and strength for the long haul

Rugie cares deeply about the quality of our yoga form and is not shy with his opinions on how to improve.

One of the benefits of long-distance hiking is that we slow down the chaos of everyday life enough to take in the details of our environment and the animals that inhabit it. Rugie has brought that inside with us. We think that he is grateful to live at home, and puts all his effort into the path of life. It makes us laugh and pay attention to things we would have ignored.

When we exercise, he joins in and helps. We have a small loft where we do “barre” exercises. Rugie climbs up on the railing and leads our workout routines.

We will clearly miss his company as we walk the Long Trail, but with all the partnerships we have built during training time, he will walk in spirit with us.

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