The Wampus Cat is Appalachian legend — a powerful, six-legged feline spirit, sometimes described as half-woman, half-mountain lion. She's associated with bad omens and the deep woods. She is not, historically, associated with enjoying a quiet cup of coffee by a campfire.
Until now.
We were camped in the Smoky Mountains, third night of a five-day trip, when she appeared at the edge of the firelight. Enormous. Amber eyes. Moving with that particular silence that large cats have — the kind that makes you realize you've been watched for longer than you knew.
We didn't move. We had a pot of Foxhole S'mores Coffee on the fire. The smell was doing what it always does — filling the whole campsite with toasted marshmallow and chocolate and campfire smoke.
She sat down at the edge of the light. We poured a cup and set it on a flat rock.
She waited. Then she came forward, drank it in a few deliberate laps, and sat back down.
We poured another. She drank it. We poured a third. She drank that too.
Then she stood, looked at us for a long moment with those amber eyes, and walked back into the dark.
No bad omens. No disaster. Just a legendary Appalachian spirit who, it turns out, has a weakness for S'mores Coffee.
S'mores Coffee — even the Wampus Cat can't resist. → foxholecoffeeco.com