Now the foursome travel together sailing, rock climbing and canoeing with aspirations to one day appear on Ellen. Bolt and Keel have become social media sensations with more than 24,000 followers on Instagram.
The pair found the abandoned kittens behind a garbage can while working at a summer camp at East Sooke Park.
"We were planning on taking them to the SPCA, but they were closed," VanderRee told the CBC. "So the next day we had a trip planned: camping, hiking, canoeing, in Strathcona park, so we didn't really have much other choice but to bring them with us."
The young cats "fit right into the whole lifestyle" and quickly won the hearts of VanderRee and Gumbley who decided to permanently adopt them and bring them along on their many outdoor adventures.
The cats' names reflect the interests of their owners with Bolt being named after the bolts climbers clip their harnesses to and Keel's name being inspired by a part of a sail boat.
"They're pretty good at adjusting to new places because that's all they really know," Gumbley told Saanich News. "It's probably just because we found them so young and we've exposed them to constant change. But it's also their personality."
