Snowshoeing in Catskills – Table and LoneCatskills雪鞋健行 – 登上 Table 和 Lone

“I can’t believe this is my first winter hike of this season,” stunned by the snow-buried mountain range, I soliloquized.
My mountains complained to me, “Why does it take so long for you to visit us?”
“Yes, it has been too long,” I echoed.

It was winter, and Catskills in winter are always beautiful. Rocky and steep terrains in the Catskills earn them a good reputation, in which a 24-mile long trail is called the Devil’s Path. But, in winter, devils retreat from their playground and yield it to white angels, with whom we humans dance hand-in-hand on the soft and tender snow and our hearts are soon filled up with joy.

Saturday morning, we took off by dawn. The plan was to peak-bag Table and Lone and if possible, Rocky. We hiked in Phoenicia-East Branch Trail and turned onto Peekamoose-Table Trail. We were making good time and our spirits were high; who could have expected that first gate-watcher of the peaks was only several turns away?

It was the Neversink River. Neversink never sinks; even if the severe winter has frozen it by a couple feet from the banks, under the thin ice, the current keeps running day and night. Across the river, there laid two logs, one was inches below the other but together these two logs should serve as a bridge. They looked inviting yet malicious: Under the several inches of fresh snow, does it hide a layer of ice which is so slippery that we might trip and therefore are forced to terminate our journey?

A few of us managed to cross the river; we not only walked on the logs, but crawled with our hands and slid with our butts. The others searched up and down and finally spotted an opening pathway where the water was shallow enough. It took us good 30 minutes or longer, but at least our group was safe and dry. Shortly, the sun came to join us, as if a fairy swung her wand, the brightness of this new member energized us right up and we threw Neversink behind us.

Fresh snow bathed in the sunlight looked just delicious. On the ground there was pile after pile of granulated sugar. On the leafless branches, rock candies with mixed-fruit flavors reflected rainbow colors. Cotton candies fell on top of evergreens. Water ice was served on semicircle plates made of fungi and was waiting for you to put a cherry on top.

As we were approaching the summit of Table, through the cherry flower blossom, there was the clear sky, whose blue was so pure and transparent. I had a chance to break the trail for a while. The snow was powdering and deep which made breaking trail a challenging and tiring job, but in return I got to enjoy the widest and freshest view and it was magnificent. I looked around; with this blue, with this white, I wondered whether I was in fact floating with ocean waves, otherwise how could I witness this sand beach and watch all the corals swimming in the sea?

We bushwhacked to the summit of Lone from the col between Table and Peekamoose. It was almost 3 o’clock which meant we had no time to collect Rocky. We shot toward northwest and descended swiftly to the Neversink. Pushing ourselves pretty hard like marching a troop, we hiked along the riverbank and gladly we stepped back on Peekamoose-Table Trail before sunset.

The moon accompanied us for the last one and half miles, and we were back to the trailhead. It was a long trip: we were on our snowshoes for almost 11 hours. Everybody was tired and starving but everybody was excited and fulfilled. This trip, just as one of the crew said, “How can we find a better day?”

望著層層被白雪覆蓋的山巒，我喃喃自語：「不敢相信，這是我入冬以來第一次的雪鞋健行？」
彷彿耳邊聽到山林絮絮地抱怨：「怎麼過怎麼久才來看我們？」
「真的是太久了啊。」我楞楞地回應著。

這就是冬天。冬天的Catskills總是美麗的。雖說她的嚴峻和多岩地勢，讓許多人遲疑不往，其中一條24英哩長的步道，甚至為其賺取「惡魔之路」的名聲。但，當冬天一起，鬼精靈的惡魔們將這遊戲場讓給白天使，人們於是可以和天使手牽手地一起嬉戲，在一片白茫茫中，得到歡欣和喜悅。

星期六早晨，在第一線曙光之前，隊伍就出發了。計畫要登上Table和Lone的山頂，如果可能，再攻上Rocky。會順著Phoenicia-East步道，銜接上Peekamoose-Table步道。一直到兩個步道交會處，一切都很順利，隊伍的精神很高昂，卻不知道幾個拐彎之後，山峰的守門員已準備好給我們一場震撼。

那是Neversink River，河如其名，永不沈。就算嚴酷的冬季，也只能從沿岸凍出一兩英尺的冰，卻，在那層薄薄的冰下，河流還是不停地向前奔流，不捨晝夜。河上搭著兩段圓木，高低不平，勉強可以做為橋樑，只是這橋樑似乎不懷好意，讓隊伍有些猶豫。會不會圓木上那幾吋的積雪下，暗藏滑不溜手的冰，等著讓隊伍摔入河流，被迫遣返？

幾個人勇敢嘗試，腳用走的，手用爬的，屁股用溜的，小心翼翼地過了河。其他的人沿著河岸上下游地搜尋，也好不容易勉強找到一條水淺的通路。為了過這河，隊伍花了三十分鐘也不止，至少大家都安全，也沒沾濕，不會著涼。陽光一會兒也加入了行列，像是仙女舞動魔法棒，燦爛的陽光將眾人灌滿了朝氣，Neversink也早已拋到腦後。

陽光下的新雪看起來可口的不行。平鋪在地表的是一層一層的細粒白砂糖。固結在枯樹枝上的雪是冰糖的結晶，七彩的顏色，是不同的水果口味。常綠喬木上堆積著一團一團的棉花糖。樹幹間長出的硬化的蕈類，端著一盤盤的刨冰，要你淋上百香果糖漿，再放幾顆新鮮草莓。

在往Table攀爬的路上，往上看去，彷彿是重疊的桃李花開，襯著的是天空湛藍的背景。那時，我有機會擔任前鋒開路的工作，在雪深又新鮮綿軟的情況下，前鋒開道是一件艱難累人的工作，但我得以欣賞第一手的美景，也有最廣闊的視野。我環顧四周，這湛藍、這純白，我疑心我是不是正浮躺在大海上，悠悠地享受日光浴。要不然，我怎麼會有怎麼純白的沙灘？和這隨處可見的白珊瑚？

從Table和Peekamoose兩山頂之間的凹谷，隊伍出發往Lone行進，這段道路不是在步道上，必須自己掌握方向。雪很深，步步艱難，到了Lone山頂已然是下午三點，沒有時間在再下一座山頂Rocky前進，必須打道回府。於是眾人往西北方快速下降，撤退到Neversink的南岸。隊伍走得很快，我們終於在日落之前，回到Peekamoose-Table步道上。

月光伴著隊伍走完最後一又二分之一英哩的行程。這是很長的一天，我們總共花了十一個小時在雪鞋上。眾人是又餓又累，卻也又興奮又充滿了成就感。也許，這次的行程，就像伙伴說的「還能找到比今天更好的一天嗎？」