Everest Survived His First Overnight Backpacking Trip

As many of you know we have had Everest since he was only five weeks old. We picked him up off the side of the road and for over a year now he has been traveling the country with us.

He loves the pop-up, loves chasing bugs all day outside on his lead and loves going hiking with us (he has his own backpack we carry him in). He is also a big fan of truck rides and his newest obsession is sticking his head out the window while we’re driving down a dirt road.

I swear sometimes I think he’s more of a dog than Dexter.

We are at my parents in Ohio taking care of some things and decided to go on an overnight backpacking trip. Dexter has spent two nights in the tent with us, but Everest never has. We wanted to include him in our trip though so decided to give it a try.

Before heading out on our trip we decided to set up the tent at base camp for a couple nights and let Everest test it out. We didn’t want his first experience in the tent to be when we actually went camping.

It was only a four mile hike into the woods, but if he wasn’t gonna be a fan I didn’t want to pack everything up and turn around and walk the four miles right back out again.

Everest made his way into the tent even before we finished setting it up.

A couple minutes later, when the set-up was complete, we just left if open and let him wander around. He spent about fifteen minutes exploring before getting bored and leaving.

Later that night I scooped him up at bedtime and away to the tent we went.

The first twenty minutes were good and he spent most of the time staring at bugs outside. Then he got a little agitated and started pawing at the tent.

I went and got Dexter and had him join us for the evening. Instantly Everest calmed down and was great the rest of the night.

He really loves his brother!

Morning rolled around and it was around 6:30 am when Everest started whining and pawing at the tent entrance again. I figured he had to potty, because he hadn’t used the portable litter box we made all night. So I let him and the dog out and back into the camper.

Everest went straight to the litter box.

The second night in the tent went much better. I didn’t even have to bring Dexter in to calm down the cat. He refused to use the litter again though and around 6:30 am I got a repeat of the previous morning.

We spent the next night in Frankenstein the pop-up and then the day of our backpacking trip arrived.

We drove to Wayne National Forest, strapped on our gear and hiked the four miles in to our favorite campsite. We had thirty feet of lead for Everest so he would have plenty of room to explore. We secured his lead to a tree and proceeded to set up camp.

Immediately he has off exploring his new environment.

Most of the day was spent hiding in the tall grass stalking insects. He is a very good hunter and consumed many tasty treats he caught that day. He spent time playing with Dexter and helping us around camp.

He was really obsessed with helping me make the campfire, which didn’t really help at all. After a year though he knows to stay away from it after it’s lit.

We had the litter box set-up outside and he used it multiple times throughout our stay. Thankfully he didn’t have an accident in the tent.

He was so excited all day that he didn’t take one nap. When we settled into the tent at the end of the night he was out within minutes. I moved him once and he didn’t even notice he was in such a deep sleep.

He woke up multiple times in the middle of the night to resituate himself somewhere on my body. He would then proceed to fall immediately asleep again until I cramped up and had to move.

He may have got a good nights sleep, but I sure didn’t.

Morning came and everyone seemed to have survived.

After we all ate it was time to pack up and hike the four miles back to our truck. Everest first overnight backpacking trip was a complete success and is something we are planning to do again. We hike a lot, but didn’t realize how much we missed our overnight backpacking trips till now.

We just need someone to make an actual backpack for hiking that allows you to carry both gear and your cat.

Poor Jamey had to stuff most of our gear in his pack while I carried Everest and a fanny pack of supplies. A more efficient solution needs to be found.

Who can make that backpack for me?