JJ Yosh, an adventure filmmaker, travel vlogger, and social media influencer, adopted Simon from a neighbor when he was still a kitten and immediately started training him to join him on his adventures. Now, they travel together hiking, backpacking, camping, kayaking, and just about any other outdoor activity you can think of. Yosh told PEOPLE:
“I started training Simon from the day I got him. He was a couple weeks old when I first got him. He was born in the mountains of Colorado, so I think both of these factors played into Simon’s adventure side. Also, the fact that I am always outdoors with him definitely helps him to adapt to the wilderness.”
Yosh, 34, and Simon, 17 months, especially love exploring Colorado’s backcountry. According to Yosh:
“Simon’s favorite places are his backyard hiking spots in Boulder, Colorado. He loves exploring the nearby mountains where we have caves and rocks to climb.”
Yosh has more than 151,000 followers on his own Instagram account, jj_yosh, and he recently created an Instagram account for Simon, backpackingkitty, which has over 61,700 followers.
Hikes with Simon take a little longer than hikes without him. It’s not because Simon is a poor hiker – it’s because he’s too popular with other hikers!
“The reaction usually is amazement and surprise that I would be taking a cat into the back country, and that Simon would sit so gracefully on my shoulder like a parrot.”
Yosh believes nearly any cat can be as adventurous as Simon, but the key is to start training them as young as possible.
“The best advice I can give to cat owners who want to make their cats adventure cats is start them young. Cats are notorious for doing what they want, and if they develop the habits early on then it makes it harder to train them. Another tip is never to free feed your cat. I feed Simon three times a day wet food. He learns the food comes from me, and before he gets his food I have him do 10 different tricks.”
What do you think? Would you bring your kitty on your outdoor adventures?
(H/T: PEOPLE)