A Perfect Rock Climbing Partner
Craig Armstrong has been rock climbing for about five years and lately he’s been climbing with a very special partner: a 2-year-old black cat named Millie.
“People take their dogs to the rocks all the time. I always knew when I was settled enough to have a pet I would bring mine on the route too, but it would be a cat,” he said.
He found Millie at a Park City pet shelter, Utah. When the 8-week-old kitten climbed onto his shoulder, Armstrong knew he’d found his new partner and took her home that day.
When Millie got a little older, he started to train her taking on short driving trips to get her used to his truck, and then to a small Salt Lake City island where she could get accustomed to being outside in a safe environment. Last autumn, Armstrong took Millie on her first big outdoor excursion to Joe’s Valley, a large concentration of rocks in Utah. Like all kittens, Millie was curious, but unlike most kittens, she was given an opportunity to explore the outdoors, climb cliffs and leap from one boulder to another. “She was really tiny and had a tendency to jump on people and climb up to their shoulders. She did that to a few pretty girls, which showed me she loves me,” Armstrong wrote when he detailed his first kitty-climbing adventure.
When they’re at camp, Armstrong lets his fearless pet wander around while he cooks dinner, but he’s careful to keep an eye on her. “I’m always sure to give her enough time around camp to do what she wants and just follow her around. In fact, putting his human agenda aside and letting Millie wander freely is something he calls “catting”, and it’s an important part of their outdoor excursions.
“Your job is to follow, protect, keep safe from harmful places and predators,” Armstrong comments on his website. “Your reward is experiencing nature at a slower pace, from a different perspective, in a new light”.
According to PARAGRAPH 5, the author describes Millie as __________.
