2014-06-08

【Aiden in English】

        The wilderness is truly a wild place. Unlike me who is told or commanded what to do at home, nothing is contained and things go what they want to do. Dad took me to experience it by going to Hickory Run State Park in PA on Sunday a week prior to Father's Day.

        Hickory Run SP is 44 miles/71 km of pure nature, plus a few paths and unpaved roads. Basically, a tourist could get lost on the hardest trail. The trail that seemed most appealing to me was the Shade of Death. Death by what? Probably bugs, snakes, and spiders because the forest of Hickory Run seemed like Bug Central. Even worse, its trial was rated as the "hardest". Now I did see why. The trail looked as crazy as a giant maze. There was no sign that indicated "this way" and the path was almost unrecognizable. So much so that Dad and I had to jump from stone to stone across a stream. It was really nerve-racking because the rocks were far apart. As soon as we got across, Dad and I were lost again. We trampled through bushes and branches, trying to find the trail. But to no prevail. What we got was a bunch of mosquito bites and several scratches, which sucked. There also appeared to have signs of wildlife. At one time, Dad and I spotted a water snake that was dining on fish. It was brown and glided smoothly across the water like an eel. Most importantly, we never got so lost that we couldn't find our way back. What a relief! It looked as if Dad and I were walking in circles but somehow, we made it back to the starting point of our fun journey.

        After long hiking, Dad and I decided to go back to the parking lot. Never before had I felt so good about sitting in a car.

【红霞译文】

        旷郊野外真是一片蛮荒之地，无边无际，在这里你想干什么就干什么，哪像我囚在家里必须遵循清规戒律。“父亲节”前一个星期天，爸爸带我到宾夕法尼亚(意译“山丘森林”)州山核桃树州立公园游玩，对之我感慨万千。

        山核桃树州立公园环抱44英哩／71公里自然景观，没有几条像样的泥巴土路，通常情况下，游客极易在蜿蜒崎岖的羊肠小道上迷路走失。最令我感兴趣的小道是“死亡阴影”，由什么引起的死亡﹖也许昆虫、毒蛇和蜘蛛，因为山核桃树森林恰好陷入它们的重重包围之中，难怪林区小道被认定最难行走，现在我终于明白缘从何起。小道宛若巨大迷宫叫人抓狂，既没有路标，也缺乏突出特征供人识别。溪水绕过岩石顺流而下，因为岩石之间距离太远，神经格外紧张，我和爸爸必须鼓足勇气从一块大石头跳到另一块上。好不容易跨过小溪，我们又迷失了方向。于是，我们披荆斩棘，努力摸索前行。途中我们横遭蚊虫叮咬，浑身上下被树枝划得遍体鳞伤，有点惨不忍睹。此外，沿途还出现野生动物迹象。我和爸爸一度发现一条正在吃鱼的水蛇，棕色且表面光滑，像鳗鱼似的在水里扭来扭去。幸好彼此头脑没再犯晕，确认了所在方位，心里踏实许多。不知怎么搞得，之前俩人好像一直在兜圈子，绕过来绕过去，最后总算转回这段快乐旅程开始的地方。

        经过漫长徒步旅行之后，我和爸爸来到停车场，以前从未像现在这样，上车入座会令我感觉无比欣慰。

Hickory Run Boulder Field (山核桃溪巨石场 11-22-2007)

Hard, Gray-Red, Medium-Grained Sandstone & Conglomeratic Sandstone from the Catskill Formation 

(坚硬的灰红色中粒砂岩和猫溪石层砾砂岩)

Hickory Lake (山核桃湖)

Hickory Dam (山核桃坝)

Mud Run (泥溪)

The Shade of Death Trail (死亡笼罩之路)

Crosslinks(相关博文):

USA(出游美国)

5th Grade(小学五年级)