Part III: A Popular Play Spot at the Ledges Rapid

After traversing through the rapids No Way, and Staircase, boaters will arrive at the rapid called Ledges. Here is a highlight of the Lehigh River – on the river right, and not too far away from a big boulder, there is a popular play spot. It’s popular because it’s a perfect place for boaters to practice literally every move – surfing, 360 spins, flip turns etc – and if you get washed out, you can easily return to the eddy behind the big rock and try again. Even if the worst thing happens, say you tip over, what follows is a wide and calm river section where you are free to take your time performing an Eskimo roll. There is one drawback about this play spot though: it’s so popular that, on weekends, there is always a long wait.

Last winter, after numerous practices in a pool, I got my rolls going. I told myself, “When the river season starts, I will go in that hole and surf,” as if playing in the hole should be a ritual for an upper gorge boater and I finally had my sacrifice ready.


第三話：激流Ledges區的熱門玩點

順著Lehigh River而下，穿過激流No Way以及Staircase之後，等待在不遠處的是激流Ledges。這裡是Lehigh River上相當有名的一處景點：河右岸，距離一巨石的不遠處，有一立體的迴流浪潮，是相當受船家歡迎的玩點。這浪潮之所以熱門，關鍵在於：小船玩家幾乎可以在這裡嘗試各種花式，諸如衝浪、360迴轉、小船翻跟斗等等。如果小船被激流衝往下游，船家也可以輕易地回到巨石後面的安靜水域，往上游划去，重新嘗試一遍。最壞的情況也不過就是翻了船，而浪潮之後的河區不單安靜、而且寬敞，容許船家從容地做出eskimo roll的動作，將小船再翻轉回來。真要針對這個玩點挑出一個毛病，就是，它實在太受歡迎了，星期假日等待的人潮總是大排長龍。

去年冬季，很努力地在游泳池裡練習，終於算是學會了eskimo roll。當時，跟自己說：「等船季開始，一定要到那兒玩玩，讓小船衝衝浪。」似乎，進入該玩點嬉戲是到Lehigh River upper gorge必須從事的儀式，而我已經將祭品虔誠地準備妥當，只等神明採納。

Early afternoon on July 14th, I arrived at Anchorage. After checking in the hotel room, it started to rain. I didn’t feel quite well because I had a complicated flight schedule. In between, I stopped at three different airports and caught a cold from a random passenger. I made myself a hot bath and ate a good meal for dinner. “Everything seems fine, and I only have a sore throat,” I comforted myself. In fact, that was a big lie; I knew this cold was going to cost me. (Lesson learned: Take good care of yourself all the time. Keep in good health before a demanding trip.)

The rain never stopped, as the sunlight never really went away. The next morning, a school bus took us 11 students to Palmer, AK where NOLS Alaska branch is located. The instructors, Ben, Nate and Shawn welcomed us in suits. We soon started our orientation, and we exchanged our expectations for instructors, classmates and the expedition itself.


七月十四日，下午約莫兩三點，我抵達Anchorage。在旅館櫃臺辦好相關手續之後，陰沈的天空也等不住，開始下起濛濛細雨。我感覺身體有些不適，大概是因為這趟旅途停留的飛機場太多，不知道何時何處從哪一個陌生人處，惹上了感冒病毒。洗了個熱水澡，吃了頓豐盛的晚餐，我安慰自己說：「好像沒這麼嚴重嘛！只是輕微的喉嚨痛罷了。」唉，自己都知道這是個天大的謊言，心知肚明這小感冒會給我帶來大麻煩。（教訓：無時無刻都要好好照顧自己，保持身體的最佳狀態，尤其在邁進漫長且艱辛的旅途之前。）

雨連綿地下著，沒有停過，好比陽光從來沒有遁去。隔天清早，NOLS用台亮黃色的school bus，將我們一行11位學員，接到位於Palmer, AK的NOLS阿拉斯加分部。三位指導員，Ben、Nate和Shawn襯衫西裝筆挺地迎接我們，很快地，新生訓練展開，個人抒發自我對指導員、其他學員、以及課程本身的期望，還有對自己的期許。

Preface

Looking at the giant K2 poster hanging on the wall in my office, I still can’t believe that I am back from the mixture of rocks, ice and snow to this pan demoniac civilization. I can’t deny that during the 28 field days, several times the thought “I want to go home” crossed my mind; however, in spite of unpleasant conditions we have encountered, living in the wilderness is easier – it is simple and it is intuitive. Now, I want to go back.

Old friends and family members are shocked that I have become an outdooraholic. Before I came to the States, I had never backpacked, neither had I exercised regularly. I didn’t do any sports, and I couldn’t run 3 miles. But I have always admired mountains, I touch and talk to flowers, and I love adventures.


前言

看著掛在工作室的巨幅K2海報，還是不敢相信，我已經從混合著岩石、堅冰、以及白雪的冰河，回到喧囂的文明世界。不可否認的是，在野外生活的這28天，好幾次動了「想要回家」的念頭。一路上是經歷了許多艱辛，結論終究是：野外生活還是比文明生活容易許多—它簡單，而且質樸。

家人和老朋友們聽聞我的戶外經驗，常直呼不可思議。他們問，是什麼轉變了我？來美國之前，沒背過大背，沒走過大山，也沒運動習慣。對什麼運動都不行，也跑不了五千公尺。有的只是對山野從不改變的戀慕，喜歡碰觸花草並與其交談，熱愛冒險嘗新。

After successfully completing the NOLS Alaska mountaineering course, I finally got back home today. I’ll sort out all the notes

Dear Readers, I’ll be away for a month to attend NOLS’ Alaska Mountaineering course, beginning July 15, 2006 and ending

Part II: the No Way rapid

Another famous or infamous rapid is called “No Way.” There is no way not to talk about “No Way” when people mention the upper gorge. The name suits the rapid: not only because there is no way you can remain dry, but also the deployed boulders in this rapid make it seem like there is no way through. Sometimes after passing through this section, we had to scan the river carefully to look for derelict paddles because plenty of people swam in this section for various reasons. You cannot wing it even if you want to, because No Way is the first rapid after the Lunch Rock which is a hard-to-ignore landmark therefore your nerves know exactly when to armor up.

I was alert every time I did No Way, and the route I selected for this time never repeated the previous ones. When a rock appeared, sometimes I wanted to go around from the left, and sometimes I wanted to backward paddle and go to another side of the river so that I could totally avoid the rock. My body had to execute the commands given by my mind in a super fast motion – as if the body and mind were an item – because there was no time for a blink of hesitation, or I would be the next one who needed a rescue.


第二話：激流「沒法子（No Way）」

Upper gorge另一個著名的，或說是惡名昭彰的激流，叫做「沒法子（No Way）」。這名字恰如其份，形容該激流以絕妙。談upper gorge，沒法子不談沒法子。在這一河段，沒法子保持身子乾燥，河床上此起彼落的石塊，有時候真叫人沒法子找出一條安莊大道。常常，過了這激流之後，就得開始以鷹眼掃瞄河面，留心是否有無主的孤槳，太多人由於不同的失誤，必須脫船游泳，泥菩薩過江，就顧不著他們的槳了。就算你刻意漠視即將穿過「沒法子」的事實，以嘗試降低自我過份緊張的心情，恐怕也是沒法子。因為這激流是過了「午餐石（Lunch Rock）」之後的第一關，你的神經在吃午餐的時候，就早就根根豎立了。

每次過沒法子，我就特別警覺，而這次選擇的通關路徑，絕對不會和上一次重複。當大石在河中出現，有時候心裡想要從左邊繞過去，有時候卻想要往後划去，再將船渡遠些，來迴避和該大石的正面交鋒。腦袋裡一盤算好，身體就得馬上執行命令，耽擱不得，腦袋和身體必須合作無間。這裡，不需要一眨眼的遲疑，就可以讓我成為下一個等待救援的受害者。

The upper gorge of the Lehigh River used to be a legend to me. Two years ago, after I entered the kayaking world, I kept hearing “I want to prepare you for the upper gorge” from Nick, my good friend and also my kayaking mentor. Before I set my boat on that section, I pictured it as an exciting but dangerous waterway, which had many wavy and dangerous spots and would sneakily tip my boat over.

So far, I’ve kayaked on the upper gorge five times. It is no longer a far beyond reach legend of adventure. However, I will still sincerely call it legendary, because I am fascinated by its ability to pass on something new to me every time I paddled – the upper gorge is like a patient and methodical school teacher who has enticed me to enjoy growing my strength and boating maneuvers with inspiring new elements which were always accompanied with excitement and challenges.

Part I: the Z rapid


Lehigh River的upper gorge一度只是我夢中的傳奇。兩年前，當我開始泛獨木舟的時候，我的好友兼獨木舟導師常常對我說：「我要你好好練習這些、那些基本動作，才好去泛upper gorge那一部份的河段。」好幾次，我常想，那段河段該是怎麼怎麼地驚險刺激，有許多狂亂的激流，隨時隨地伺機將我的小船打翻。

截至目前為止，我已經駕著小船泛過那個河段五次了，upper gorge不再是可望不可及的傳奇。但是，形容它的時候，還是很難不使用傳奇這個字眼：每次泛舟其上，總是會有新的感覺、新的學習、新的收穫，真難想像為什麼同一河段可以這麼千變萬化；它又好像一個循循善誘的人生導師，每每使用啟發式的範例，伴隨著趣味且有挑戰性的泛舟體驗，導領我心甘情願的認真磨練操舟動作，增加自我的操舟能耐。

第一話：激流「Z」

It was hot; it was over 90 degrees both on Saturday and Sunday. It was dry; on both days we had to hike about 10 miles without encountering a water source. I couldn’t forget that the sunlight was poisonous and the mosquitoes at camp were mischievous because of the tanning and bug bites on my arms.

Not like the sections 3 and 4 of this trail, the sections 6 and 7 we hiked this time were not well marked—both the starting point and end point were hard to locate. If not because we had a participant with sharp eyes, we could have wasted so much time even before we headed into the woods. Most of the trail was either rocky plus wobbly or covered by overgrown ferns and sometimes poison ivy. But the worst experience happened when we almost got lost because a lumber company used the same color paint as the trail blazes to mark their logging area.

So you might ask, “why were you guys there?” It was fun regardless of all the hassle and sweat, and we were so excited when we finally reached a big creek, dipping in the chilling water and drinking from an abundant water supply. At night, camping at a clearing, sleeping so deeply under the starlight generated thousands of years ago. Water, food, and rest. It’s so easy to feel satisfied in the outdoors, because other than those basics, what else do we really need?


這次的行程，如果只以兩個字來概括形容，就是熱和乾。兩天的氣溫都超過攝氏三十六度；同時，行程中，每天各有超過十五公里的行程，是毫無水源的。回到家中，曬紅的肌膚以及紅腫的蟲咬痕跡，再三喚起，我對於行程中，豔陽殘酷，以及營區蚊子無情的記憶。

此次健行的區段，不似四月時健行的另一區段一般，標示地清楚明白。要不是一個隊員眼尖，在行程真正開始前，還不知道要浪費多少時間，在確定健行起點以及終點的所在地上。大部分的步道都是岩跡斑斑，該些石塊在隊伍走過時，不論大小，總是會不停晃動；另外，春夏之際，雜草樹木叢生，加上滿地都是有毒的poison ivy，將步道幾乎整個掩蓋住了。但這些還不是最壞的，最令人沮喪的經驗是：當地的伐木公司用和步道標示一樣顏色的油漆，來劃分他們伐木的領域，害得隊伍差點迷失路徑。

看到這裡，也許你會問我：「那你們去那幹啥？」旅途的艱辛，和眾人揮灑的汗水以外，得來的經歷是令人愉悅的。不能忘記：隊伍好不容易抵達小溪，浸入沁涼的溪水，恣意地享受不虞匱乏的水源的歡喜。傍晚，隊伍在視野開闊處紮營，在數千萬年前產生的星光下沈睡。水、食物、休息。在戶外，心靈很容易就得到滿足，畢竟，除了那些基本需要，我們還要要求什麼嗎？

It was the third weekend of May. Before the trip, two things worried me: 1. the black fly season was about to start. 2. The weather forecast called for thunderstorms for both Saturday and Sunday.

Thunderstorms showed up earlier on my way driving up to the Catskills. When I reached the parking lot for the north-end trailhead of the Giant Ledge-Panther-Fox Hollow Trail, it was dark as ink. Without the help from either moonlight or starlight, I could still recognize that there was only one other car parked in the lot. My nerve was irritated and I started to worry about one more thing: 3. there should have been two other cars. Who was or who were the missing one(s)?


那是五月的第三個禮拜。行前，心裡一直在咕噥著兩件事：一是，討厭的黑蠅季節恐怕要開始了。二是，氣象報告居然說週六和週日都有不停歇的雷陣雨。

雷陣雨倒是在星期五，驅車前往紐約州的Catskills山區就開始了。到了Giant Ledge-Panther-Fox Hollow步道的北端停車場時，天色漆黑如墨。即便沒有月光，亦無星光，還是辨認出該處除了我的車以外，只停泊了另一輛車。呃，我的緊張指數表開始標高，開始咕噥著第三件事：三是，應該總共有三台車啊，不是大家都說好，要到這裡來集合過夜的嗎？

Since my very first few backpacks, I hadn’t had one trip that beat me that hard until this extremely fun bushwhacking endeavor. Yes, the fun tasted a bit bitter but the trip was fun with no sarcasm added.

This trip was a private trip for friends, and I was the unofficial leader. Therefore I was not as prepared as I always am for every AMC trip and that was the first mistake. The second mistake was that I was too optimistic about the group pace. We were all strong hikers; however, the bushes in the Catskills were stronger than us. They were so thick which made me wish I had a chainsaw; they were so dense which made it easy to get disoriented and hard to stay on the planned route.

And what is the third mistake? Two mistakes were more than enough to make our trip much more difficult than it should have been. The second day, we hiked more than 12 hours and a few of them were in the dark. I bore scars collected mostly from hemlocks and balsam firs for more than two weeks, and my ripped raincoat became my reason not to attempt it again just to prove that my plan would have worked out as sketched if we fixed the above two mistakes.

Alright, the following is my original plan:



除了開始backpacking的那一段時光以外，已經有好一陣子不再有被backpacking打敗的感覺了—直到這一次，超折磨人的茂林找路任務（bushwhacking）。折磨歸折磨，仍然是苦中帶甜，而說這次旅途真好玩，可沒有半點諷刺的意味喔！

雖說這次的旅途是由我規劃，但由於不是為登山團體所開的隊，純屬朋友間的私人出遊，所以並沒有兢兢業業、一絲不苟，準備充分，此為第一個錯誤。第二個錯誤是，我對於隊伍的行進速度太過樂觀，雖然說參加者都是健足，可，Catskills的灌木森林也不是好相與的：有太多地方，樹木濃密到恨不得手上持有兩把開山刀；另外，濃密的灌木叢，讓人容易不辨東西，極易喪失方向感。

那，那，第三個錯誤呢？喔，兩個錯誤已經令人夠受的。第二天，隊伍行進的時間超過十二個鐘點，還有幾個小時是在天黑的情況下完成的。從樹林裡收集到的細密傷口，兩個多禮拜後才漸漸淡去。而我的昂貴雨衣，也被可恨的樹枝勾破了，成為我不願意再嘗試此旅途（就為了證明修正兩個錯誤後的計畫，其實是可行的）的有力理由。

好，閒話不多說，以下就是我的原始構想：