密西根西北角追楓的生日(一）
Chasing foliage in Northwest Michigan — Part 1, Oct. 2020
An October birthday in the Midwest is blessed with vibrant foliage. The color combinations always have a way to delight a visually insatiable me. As the unsettling pandemic has increasingly intensified my calling for the far and the remote, my birthday was a perfect excuse to whip the family out for a 350-mile road trip to Northwest Michigan, an area well known for its natural beauty and fall colors.
With my usual unexplainable impulse, I was fixated on the idea to explore its beauty on a kayak but the kayak plan wasn’t without twists and turns. It’s already the end of the kayaking season and dipping temperatures with rain in the forecast didn’t help with our renting decision. Nonetheless, with some good persistence, we made it after all. During the two full days up there, we were able to immerse ourselves into the colorful palettes by kayaking a section of Big Manistee river, hiking the adjacent Manistee River Trail, and driving various scenic routes winding through inland and beach towns surrounding the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This little getaway from the merciless pandemic was short and sweet, just enough to rejuvenate and bring sanity back in place.
生日有特權說走就走吧！疫情當下，更是想離群索居，需要被大地之母疼愛一下。生日適逢楓紅的嘛，於是做起賞楓的美夢。看看中西部鄰近有點小坡適合賞楓的州，威斯康辛也好，印第安那也好，疫情狀況都沒密西根控制的好，所以密西根自然成為首選。芝加哥在密西根湖的西南角，密西根在密西根湖的東岸，臨時起意的小旅行，要繞密西根湖大半圈，車程五個半小時才能到壽星千挑萬選的目的地。
一開始在網上認真追蹤楓紅特報時，被一張照片閃到。蜿蜒小河包在五彩繽紛的樹林中，吹彈可破的不現實感，讓壽星的好奇寶寶心大起，躍躍欲試想划船賞楓。可是天氣預報不幫忙，這個志願沒保證可以實現，連租船的老闆都不是很篤定天氣會夠合作。一直到出發前三天，看預報說會有機會出太陽，雖然秋高氣爽的可能性極低，但想說夠好了，走吧，划吧！
Day 1: Kayaking Big Manistee River (the Hodenpyl Dam-Red Bridge section) and taking a walk on the Manistee River Trail
The goal of the day is to get onto the water no matter how and then hike along the river after kayaking. The forecast wasn’t too bad to begin with: Temp in the 50s and less than 50% chance of rain. Little did we know, on top of the jaw-dropping morning frost, it started to flurry five minutes into our kayaking! That’s definitely not 50 degrees as the forecast said!! Admittedly, we were cold but it took little time for the scenery to sweep away our discomfort. Landscape changed continuously, high from bluffs down to sandy beaches and vise versa. Every turn felt new and deja vu at the same time. A heron led our way a few times, fish flipped out of the water, fog rose uniformly from the water surface in response to a sudden temperature drop, and not to mention when wind started to whistle, colorful leaves were triggered to fall from the sky onto us and the water. Even when nothing seemed in action, tranquility itself was sensational.
雖然天氣不在我們的控制範圍內，但划船加賞楓的絕佳組合就是讓人意志高昂。不過老天爺顯然很挑釁，老是要出題考驗壽星划船的決心。一早出門先是賞我們滿地的霜。上了船才划五分鐘，竟然飄起雪來，這是哪種耍人的把戲啊？但火還沒冒就莞爾一笑起來。因為這些突來的變化，讓我們的肌膚更親臨深受此山此水，感官頓開，耳聰目明起來。沿途五彩繽紛的美景，魚鳥陪伴，還有從天而降的葉子飄灑在頭上，在天氣的變化多端下，我們似乎只有更深入其境，更心甘情願任其擺佈。
After parking the kayak and warming up our toes, we set our foot on the Manistee River Trail parallel to the river we just kayaked. This allowed us to see the river from higher up and better admire its surroundings.
划了一早上的船，腳指頭早都凍僵了。把船停好後，簡單吃吃稍作休息，換上登山鞋，轉個心情，沿著河的健行步道去走走。這個步道順著河水彎彎曲曲，時而居高臨下，時而親水，像鄰家女孩般親切。加上太陽出來了，陽光普照下，樹林裡的紅黃橘，顏色鮮明活了起來。這條路，跟對面的North Country Trail隔河遙遙相望，剛好可以兩天一夜慢慢走一圈。壽星雖然還在意猶未盡剛剛的划船賞楓行，但心已悄悄飄到曠野露營去了。
可惜時間不夠走完全長九英里，挑個中段走走看看剛才划過的河道。
On our way back to the campsite, we stopped by an overlook to take a good look at the upstream of the Manistee River. We didn’t know we were actually walking into a panorama of the entire valley. The colors. The view. Even the temperature. Turned out perfect.
回程的路上，繞了點小路到一個觀景台。本只是好奇想探看同條河的上游，沒想到印入眼簾的是方圓一百三十平方英里一望無際的彩色調色盤。生日當天撞見如此這般楓紅盛期大景，無怨無悔啦。
眼前的美景再美，太陽下山了也留不住它的光彩。回到營地，哥哥幫忙起了個好火，一家四口繞著火圈喝杯熱巧克力，另類的為生日畫上暖暖的句點。
繼續閱讀。Follow this link to the second day of our trip:
