boasts a newly renovated bathroom and kitchen, easy access to the Appalachian Trail, and a private patio that looks out onto the forests of Garrison, just an hour and change north of New York City. But the Airbnb鈥檚 most popular amenity may just be an orange cat named Cinamen who loves to hike with guests.
Cinamen went viral earlier this month after . 鈥淲ent with my partner upstate and the AirbnB host鈥檚 cat took us for a guided hike along the ,鈥 wrote Cocioba alongside photos of Cinamen stalking through the moss, sitting on Cocioba鈥檚 chest during a break, and perching on the edge of a puddle. 鈥淎pparently this is what she does with every guest. She would complain when we took a wrong turn off the trail and knew the way back. Amazing cat. Would apocalypse with.鈥 The post went viral; as of the time of writing, it has been viewed more than 1.6 million times.
While Cinamen鈥攁ctually male, owner Trisha Mulligan says鈥攎ay be new to the internet, he鈥檚 not new to the trail by any means. A quick scan of Foxglove Farm鈥檚 reviews turns up more than a dozen mentions of the cat: 鈥淲e were thrilled to have her sweet kitty [Cinamen] walk with us on the trail for a bit so we got to check off hiking with a cat from our bucket list,鈥 one guest wrote. 鈥淲e had an amazing time with [Cinamen] who went on a hike with us, coolest cat on earth,鈥 wrote another. 鈥淸Cinamen], the cat, accompanied us on the hike and was a reliable tour guide,鈥 a third noted.
At times she judged the crap out of us for being too slow. I got a camera roll full of judgement, lololol
鈥 Sebastian S. Cocioba馃獎馃尫 (@ATinyGreenCell)
鈥淚 call him the concierge, because he just loves people,鈥 Mulligan says. 鈥淵ou know, each color, they have different personalities. And there鈥檚 something about an orange cat that鈥檚 very social, and we have a very social cat.鈥
Mulligan, an herbalist and ethnobotanist, has lived in Garrison in a house above the apartment she rents on Airbnb, for 鈥渁bout 10 years鈥 since moving there from Brooklyn with her family. Cinamen came into the picture 8 years ago when she adopted him and his sibling as kittens from an animal shelter. Although his littermate has since passed, Cinamen thrived as an outdoor cat in Garrison鈥檚 woods, hanging out with Mulligan in the garden or following her or her children onto the Appalachian Trail via a roughly 100-yard path over a laurel-covered ridge that Mulligan through her property. Other adventure cat owners have had to put a lot of time into training and acclimating their cats to the outdoors, but Cinamen took to it naturally, Mulligan says.
鈥淲hen we鈥檙e going out of our house, he follows me,鈥 she says. 鈥淵ou know, like, when you鈥檙e gardening and your cat jumps on your back? He鈥檚 always with me when I鈥檓 in the garden, which I love.鈥
Most of Mulligan鈥檚 guests seem to agree; some, she says, come back repeatedly just to visit the cat.
鈥淭here鈥檚 this one guy, this Russian guy who comes back regularly. He never leaves reviews, but he always sends me pictures鈥攈e鈥檚 a photographer鈥攁nd he books because he wants to be with Cinamen and he wants to do the trail with Cinamen,鈥 she says. 鈥淚鈥檝e had other people say, 鈥極h my God, we were hiking and lost, but Cinamen wouldn鈥檛 let us get lost.鈥欌 (Downside: If you鈥檙e hoping for Cinamen to join your tramily, you may be out of luck. While Mulligan says that Cinamen sometimes stays out long enough with hiking guests to worry her, he rarely spends the night outside.)
Cats, of course, aren鈥檛 known for their consistency, so if you鈥檙e thinking of booking a stay at Foxglove, it鈥檚 worth mentioning that there鈥檚 no money-back guarantee Cinamen will be interested in your hiking plans; one reviewer noted that she was 鈥渏ealous of other guests who got to meet a cat.鈥 But overall, your chances are pretty good鈥攁s long as you鈥檙e willing to respect his pace.
鈥淚 tell people, he鈥檚 gonna slow you down because he鈥檚 gotta look at stuff and he鈥檚 gotta pose,鈥 Mulligan says. 鈥淚鈥檝e had people that are hiking that really do slow down and be with him, which is kind of my thing.鈥