For any New Hampshire hiker, scaling all of the state’s “Four Thousand Footers” is a huge accomplishment. But one pair of local hikers has gone viral on TikTok while documenting their time on these trails — in part because one of them is a rabbit, named Moose.
“She’s like way more badass than me,” Chelsea Eason said of her pet rabbit and hiking companion. “And I thought I was a badass.”
Eason, who lives in the Sunapee region, got into hiking when she moved to New Hampshire in 2014 and completed about 32 of New Hampshire’s 4,000-foot peaks on her own. While she grew up with pet rabbits, she said she never took any of them on hikes. But when she got Moose, she decided to see how the rabbit might acclimate to the trails.
“Because if she hated it, I wasn’t going to do it,” Eason said.
It soon became clear: Moose loves to hike. But unlike a dog, a familiar pet on many New Hampshire trails, the rabbit tends to move at a more relaxed pace.
“She’ll hop around, and sit and eat, and take care of herself,” Eason said. “But those are the moments when I get to sit, take a breath, and figure out what she’s looking at and what she’s enjoying.”
Still, Eason said Moose does manage to keep up with trickier parts of New Hampshire hikes — climbing over rock slides and scrambles all on her own. Eason said Moose’s feisty, “can-do” attitude has helped her through many difficult trails.
“She’s kind of been my ride or die, my adventure partner,” said Eason. “She’s really kind of been the inspiration for me to keep going.”
It’s also been nice to cross paths with other hikers who are eager to meet (or pet) Moose, Eason said. And Moose is happy to receive attention. So it’s fitting that she’s also been popular on social media.
“TikTok was an accident,” Eason said. “I just made one or two videos and people started really gravitating towards that.”
To learn more about Eason and Moose’s journey, you can follow them on Instagram at @littlemountainbunny and TikTok at @moosiegoosegallery.
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