Bushwhacking is so much fun茂林找路（Bushwhacking）真好玩

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:

The group parks at Denning Road, and hikes on the trail to summit Table and Peekamoose. We then come back to Table and start to bushwhack in order to traverse four summits in this order: Lone, Rocky, Balsam Cap, and Friday. (The route I draw on the map is the bushwhack path and there are in fact 5 summits before we hit the trail again; the last one is not named.) We are back to the trail somewhere between Slide and Cornell, and we will camp there for the night. The second day, we peak-bag Cornell and Wittenburg packlessly, and come back and backpack towards Slide, and hike out of the woods.

The trailhead at Denning Road was not the easiest place to drive in, between it and the exit #19 of the New York Thruway lay sections of county roads, on which nobody could drive fast. We didn’t get an early start as we wanted therefore we agreed on the first plan change: instead of doing the loop counter-clockwise, we did it the reverse direction in order to avoid bushwhacking in the dark.

It took us six hours to reach the campsite and another hour for a side trip of bagging Cornell and Wittenburg. After we finished dinner and bear bag hanging, the night curtain dropped and we called it a day.

That night, I didn’t sleep well. My sleeping pad leaked and I couldn’t pinpoint the problem and I literally had to sleep on hard rock surface for the whole night. My nose was clogged either because of cold or allergies. I woke up so many times during the night, and every time it took me a long while before I could fall back to sleep. I thought of many random things while I was awake, except for one: the mileage for the second day was not shorter than the first day and we had to bushwhack and find our directions. If it took us seven hiking hours for the first day on the trail, 10 hours of hiking would not be an underestimation for the second day.

The fact was: 10 hours still were not enough. We started the second day earlier than the previous day. Putting a compass on my neck and pulling out my GPS as a backup, my body was ready for challenges and my spirit was high. Among the virtual walls formed by tangled bushes, it was fun sometimes to duck and sometimes to pass through holes which hardly fit me. The fun went sour after so many times neither ducking nor passing through was an option anymore and we had to detour and get back on track. Discouragement never stopped accumulating because my forearms and wrists had fresh cuts every so often even though they were covered by sleeves and gloves.

The Catskills are a rocky area, and we were not surprised that giant ledges often stood up and gave us a hard time even though there was no way to learn they were there according only to the contour lines. Sometimes, when we couldn’t go around them, and had to locate a relatively mild path to drop down, I thanked my gym climbing instructor who always advises me to use climbing down as a training method. Of course, it was quite different without a harness and a top rope, and with a backpack, but the general concept applies.

Thank God It’s Friday – we reached our first summit (Friday) and it took us surprisingly long. I looked at my watch and wondered: our legs would be able to hike faster yet we couldn’t hike faster due to the constraints.

We didn’t rest long and started to head to the next goal – Balsam Cap. Between Friday and Balsam Cap, the same old stuff ruled: bushes, ledges, cuts, ups and downs. I managed to get something new: bruises on my lower legs because I tripped on broken logs. We signed our names on the notebook in the canister of Balsam Cap and continued our journey towards Rocky.

An incident happened somewhere between Balsam Cap and Rocky, I ripped open my raincoat. I looked at the 3-inch long opening on my right sleeve as if my raincoat was suffering; oh, I felt that my heart was bleeding, this rain coat cost me a good fortune and it was my favorite color. I wanted to cry as loud as I could and I wanted to spread my tears to drown the goddamn bushes, but I didn’t. I didn’t because I had to remain calm. There was no time to waste; we were in the middle of nowhere. I still stood there stubbornly for 5 minutes as a salute to express the lament.

After signing off the canister on the top of Rocky, it was five o’clock. I didn’t think it would be wise to bushwhack to Lone and then Table, so I proposed to drop down to the Neversink River and follow it to hit the trail and hike out. By doing this, the total mileage was shorter and we didn’t have to worry about getting lost in the woods. The group members agreed with this plan change, and we dropped down to the river. After that point, we needed to hike along Neversink for approximately three or four miles before the trail junction.

It soon got really dark, and sometimes we had to wobble on river rocks. We also crossed the river for a few times to find an easier route to follow. I noticed that our pace didn’t get faster even though bushes were no longer a problem. We were not fast because we were tired. Nobody was talkative anymore and time seemed to flow more slowly among silence.

After a century long, a question broke the ice, “how come we haven’t seen the trail? I thought we had hiked along the river for a long time!?” I did feel the same way; after all, there were ONLY three miles. I pulled out my map and tried to figure out where we were, but it was too dark for me to locate a reliable point of reference. I knew the trail was north of us but I couldn’t give an affirmative answer whether we missed the trail junction or not. We took the assumption that we missed the trail junction and hiked north as an attempt to get back to the trail, but the terrain was too steep to match the elevation profile given by the contour lines. That gave us only one answer: we hadn’t reached the trail junction yet.

I pulled out my GPS again to get our current waypoints to confirm that sad conclusion that we had to hike along the river more. While the GPS was looking for satellites, everybody was chewing their last bit of food, and I kept wondering, “If somebody pops the request to camp, I will not say no.” We still had about a half mile to go, and the moment we saw the blue blaze, I believed that I heard an exciting screaming (Maybe it was from me?!).

Another one and half miles to the car, but that was easy. At the parking lot, everybody didn’t say a word while changing and eating. There was a long silence before somebody said, “I am exhausted and I got really upset up there, but it was fun.”

Yes, it was fun. No matter how many hassles we have to overcome and no matter how beat-up we feel we are during an outdoor trip, once we are safe home, what is left is always fun. And we will go out of doors again.


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：

隊伍將車泊在單寧路（Denning Road），循著步道循序登上Table和Peekamoose山頂。接著走回Table開始尋路之旅，這趟尋路的目標是四個山頭，依序是：Lone、Rocky、Balsam Cap、最後是Friday（其實Friday後還有另一個無名山頭）。之後，又回歸到步道，大約在Slide和Cornell之間紮營。第二天，輕裝登上Cornell和Wittenburg之後，回到紮營地，扛起背包，順著步道，經過Slide後，回到停車地點。

單寧路停車處還不是普通的曲折，從New York Thruway（I-87）下出口19交流道之後，還要順著好幾段、速限超低的鄉間小路，才輾轉達到目的地。也因為如此，清早就開始健行的計畫落空了，隊伍同意將原本逆時針行進的計畫，改為順時針，也就是將尋路之旅推到第二天，因為誰也不想在天黑的時候，困在樹林間。

花了隊伍大概六小時才到預定的紮營處，加上造訪Cornell和Wittenburg山頭的來回路程，總共是七小時。匆匆吃完晚餐，掛好熊袋，天早已黑了，隊員互道晚安，就迫不及待地向睡袋報到了。

那天晚上，沒有能夠睡好。先是睡墊漏氣，又遍尋不到漏氣的地方，只好硬是在堅硬的岩石面上撐了一晚；另外，又不知道因為天氣冷還是過敏，鼻塞地不像話，一夜之間，反反覆覆，醒來了好幾次。每次醒來，都得胡思亂想個好一陣子，才又朦朧睡去，偏偏似乎什麼都想到了，卻忘記了一件事：第二天的路程比第一天還要長，又要找路又要和灌木叢奮鬥，如果第一天順著步道走要花七個小時，第二天要十個小時也是不誇張啊？！

事實是，十個小時還是低估了。第二天，是比第一天還要早開始健行。我抓出我的指北針，還配戴GPS以為備案，身體和心理的狀況良好，準備迎向挑戰。樹枝濃密，形成一堵一堵的牆，一行人三不五時蹲低，一下子爬行，一下子硬擠過幾不容身的小細縫，倒是蠻好玩的。不過，好幾個地方倒是怎麼穿也穿不過去，隊伍必須往回走一些，再另尋路徑前進，這尋路之旅可就漸漸地沒有那麼令人欣喜了。雖然穿著了手套和長袖衣物，手腕、手臂上還是漸漸地出現被樹枝劃傷的痕跡，漸漸地，沮喪失意的心情開始累積。

Catskills說是岩石山也不為過，若是走一走，突然出現高大的岩壁擋住去路，也是沒有什麼需要大驚小怪的。這些岩壁是從地圖上的等高線上判讀不出來的，所以也只好見招拆招。大部分時候，需要繞好長的一段路，有時候，怎麼繞也不是的時候，只好手腳並用、找個比較不嚇人的坡度，慢慢爬下，每逢這樣的時刻，我心裡頭都暗暗感謝，岩場的教練常常叫我用往下爬，來訓練攀岩時判斷攀爬路徑的技巧，這時可派上用場了。雖然說沒有穿吊帶，也沒有岩鞋和繩索，背上還多了個重重的背包，基本的概念仍然是相通的。

感謝天，星期五到了—終於到了第一個山頭，Friday，隊伍所花的時間，比預期地長許多。我看著我的手錶，心中忖度：眾人的雙足，若我要求增加速度是沒有疑問的，偏偏在茂林中的侷限，就是讓人沒法兒走快。

沒停留多久，隊伍又出動了，下一個目標—Balsam Cap。在Friday和Balsam Cap之間，情況一點都沒有改善：濃密的灌木林、突然出現的巨大岩壁、爬上加爬下、還有令人疼痛的小傷口。我更因為絆到樹幹，多了小腿上的瘀青。登上Balsam Cap之後，隊伍又匆匆邁向Rocky。

Balsam Cap和Rocky之間，樹枝勾破了我的雨衣。我盯著右邊袖子上長達七八公分的傷口，好像我的雨衣正在哀嚎似的，喔，不，是我的心中在淌血：這件雨衣可花了我不少銀子，又是我最喜愛的顏色，天啊，你怎麼這樣對待我？我好想大聲的哭，讓泉湧的眼淚淹死所有的灌木，但我沒有這麼做，這不是哭的時候，沒有時間啊，我需要冷靜，雖說如此，我還是默默地站立了五分鐘，儀式性地表達了我的哀傷和痛輓。

到了Rocky山頂，已經五點了。我不認為應該繼續前往Lone和Table，於是建議大家往下坡直降到Neversink River，然後順著河流走到Neversink和步道的交會處。這樣一來，總行進距離可以縮短，就算天黑，也不用擔心迷路。隊伍很快地同意了，而到了Neversink之後，預計還需要沿河行進約三到四英里，才會到達與步道交會處。

天很快地黑了。在河道旁行走，不時得顛顛簸簸地踩著河中橢圓的搖擺岩石，有時候，還必須穿越河流，到對岸找另一條比較好走的路。我注意到，雖然沒有可恨的樹木橫亙在前頭阻擋我們，隊伍行進的速度並沒有增快，大家想必都是累了。很安靜地走著，像是軍隊銜枚行走，而時間的流走在沈靜間，變得難以感覺。

終於有人出聲劃破這一世紀的寂靜：「還沒有看到步道嗎？不是已經沿著河道行走了好長的一段時間了嗎？」我承認，我也是這麼地疑惑著，畢竟不是「只」有三英里嗎？我抓出地圖，想確定隊伍究竟在哪裡，偏偏天黑地，我根本找不到一個可靠的參考點。雖說確定步道在隊伍的北方，可是實在沒辦法很肯定地跟大家說，我們是不是還沒到步道與河流的交會處。所以隊伍先是假設錯過了步道，開始往北行進，但是坡度實在太陡峭了，不符合等高線給的資訊。也就是說，唯一的答案是：我們還沒到交會處。

我又拿出GPS，來讀目前所在地的座標以做確認。當GPS尋找衛星的時刻，每個人都開始嚼著行囊中剩餘的食物點心，而我心中一個聲音響著：「如果有人說要在這裡紮營，明天再走，我想我會馬上答應。」大約還有半英里的路程到交會處。喔，當隊伍看到步道標示的那一刻，我似乎聽到了興奮的驚呼（還是那根本就是我？）。

還有一又二分之一英里才會看到車子，不過這只是一片蛋糕罷了。在停車處，眾人不出一聲地，換衣裳的換衣裳，吃東西的吃東西。好久好久，才有人說：「累是累極了，沮喪也是好沮喪，不過還是很好玩。」

是啊，真的是好玩。不管在路途上，遇到多少艱險；不管在行進間，感覺多麼地困苦，只要安全地回返家門，留下的記憶總是樂趣，總是甜。而下一次，我們還是會毫不遲疑地走向戶外。