THIS is arguably America’s greatest hiking trail, a 2,650-mile serpentine path running through desert and wilderness from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. The Pacific Crest Trail meanders through cactus and redwoods, challenging humans with rivers and snowfields, rattlesnakes and bears.
这可以说是美国最重要的旅行步道：一条2650英里（约合4260公里）长的蜿蜒之路，穿越沙漠和荒野，从美国和墨西哥的边界延伸到与加拿大的边界。沿着太平洋屋脊步道(Pacific Crest Trail)行走，会途经仙人掌丛和红杉林，需跨越河流、雪地，还会碰到响尾蛇和熊。
It’s a trail of extremes. Hiking it with my daughter near the Mexican border this month, we sweltered on our first day in soaring temperatures and a 20-mile dry section through the desert. Six days and a bit more than 150 miles later, near the town of Idyllwild, we shivered in 30-degree temperatures as the heavens dumped snow on us.
这是一条充满极限挑战的路。这个月，我和女儿从美墨边境附近的路段开始徒步。第一天，我们走的是一段20英里长的干燥的沙漠地，气温不断飙升，感觉酷热难耐。花六天时间走了150多英里之后，我们到达靠近爱德怀镇的地方。天降大雪，我们又开始在华氏30度（约合摄氏零下1度）的低温下瑟瑟发抖。

The trail is a triumph of serenity and solitude. Except that, these days, the solitude is getting crowded.
这条路是属于宁静和孤独的，只不过，近段时间以来，那份孤独开始变得有些热闹。
Apparently, in part because of the book and movie versions of “Wild,” about Cheryl Strayed’s journey of discovery and self-repair on her hike, some areas of the trail feel as busy as a scout jamboree.
如今，这条步道的一些路段像童子军大联欢一样熙熙攘攘，显然部分原因在于，人们受到了《走出荒野》(Wild)这本书和据此改编的电影的影响。谢丽尔·史翠德(Cheryl Strayed)在其中讲述了自己在这条路上的发现之旅，以及她自我修复的过程。
I’ve been backpacking the Pacific Crest Trail since I was a kid, inspired by the first person to complete a thru-hike from Canada to Mexico, Eric Ryback, who wrote a book published in 1971 about his feat. My 17-year-old daughter and I aim to eventually hike the full trail, section by section, in this narrow window in which she is strong enough and I’m not yet decrepit. Last year, we completed Oregon and Washington, and this month’s section took us through the southernmost part of California desert.
还是个孩子的时候，我就开始在太平洋屋脊步道上背包旅行，当时是受到埃里克·里巴克(Eric Ryback)的启发。他是完成从加拿大到墨西哥的徒步穿越旅程的第一人，并且根据自己的经历写作了一本书，于1971年出版。我和17岁的女儿计划分段走完整条步道，趁着现在女儿已身强体健而我还没老去。去年，我们完成了位于俄勒冈州和华盛顿州的路段，这个月我们走完了加州荒漠最南端那部分。
Fewer people have hiked the full Pacific Crest Trail than have reached the summit of Mount Everest. Yet, this year, so many want to hike it that a limit has been placed on permits so that no more than 50 thru-hikers can begin at the Mexican border each day.
走完太平洋屋脊步道全程的人比登上珠穆朗玛峰的人还要少。但今年太多人想要穿越这条路，使得管理方不得不加以限制，每天只允许不超过50人从墨西哥边境出发。
Another memoir may add to the mystique. In “Girl in the Woods,” scheduled for publication in September, with a possible television spinoff, Aspen Matis recounts how she was raped on the second day of college and then fled campus to seek healing on a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike. She starved and suffered on the trail but also found redemption — and, yes, her future husband by the 2,000 mile mark.
还有一本回忆录也会增加它的神秘性。在计划于今年9月出版的《林中女孩》(Girl in the Woods)一书里，阿斯彭·马蒂斯(Aspen Matis)讲述了自己的故事。此书还可能会改编成电视剧。她在上大学第二天遭到强奸，然后逃离校园去穿越太平洋屋脊步道寻求疗愈。旅行中，她忍受饥饿，经受磨难，但也获得了救赎。是的，她还在走到2000英里的时候找到了自己未来的丈夫。
(I wonder if women don’t have the edge in trail memoirs. Male hikers project toughness, female hikers vulnerability. Ask a man resting on a trailside log how he’s doing, and he’ll boast of how many miles he has walked. Ask a woman, and she’ll confide about her blisters, mosquito bites and insecurities. That’s not universally true, as Bill Bryson can attest, but women seem more comfortable opening up about the woes that are inevitably much more interesting than the miles.)
（我在想，女性在撰写旅行回忆录方面是否真的没有优势。男性徒步者通常会突显自己的强韧，而女性徒步者则喜欢强调自己的脆弱。问一个正在路边木头上休息的男性当下感觉如何，他会大谈特谈自己已经走了多长的路。问一个女徒步者，她会讲自己的水泡、蚊子叮咬的包和不安全感。尽管就像比尔·布来森(Bill Bryson)证明的那样，事情并非绝对如此，不过女性似乎的确更愿意展露困难的一面，而这显然比讲走了多少英里更吸引人。）
Most would-be thru-hikers will probably drop out — one woman gave up this year on the first day, after 13 miles — but hundreds are expected to walk every step of the way to Canada.
大部分计划走完全程的人可能会中途退出——今年有一名女士刚走13英里就在启程的第一天放弃了——但预计有成百上千人会一步步抵达步道那一端的加拿大。
Old hands fret that these neophytes don’t know what they’re doing (The Wall Street Journal quoted one woman this month who had never spent a night outdoors until she began her “Wild”-inspired hike) and could endanger themselves. The trail begins at the Mexican border with a 20-mile dry stretch, and my daughter and I ran across five inexperienced men who had all separately run out of water on that stretch and become dehydrated.
经验丰富的徒步者担心新手们对自己正在做的事认识不足（这个月，《华尔街日报》有篇文章引述了一名女士的例子。在受《走出荒野》启发开始徒步之旅以前，她没有任何夜间户外生存的经验），可能会让自己陷入危险的境地。这条步道在墨西哥边境的开头部分是一段20英里长的干燥地段。我和女儿那里曾先后遇到五个没有经验的徒步者，全都因用光了随身携带的饮品而进入脱水状态。
Drought has also forced hikers to carry more water: The first eight creeks that we crossed were dry.
干旱也迫使徒步旅行者随身携带更多水：我们在路上经过的头八条小溪都已干涸。
We encountered another hazard in the form of a rattlesnake that my daughter almost stepped on. Yet, in the end, most hikers do just fine, apart from blisters and a few lost toenails, and it’s hard to begrudge anyone the chance for a bit of nature therapy in the Cathedral of Wilderness.
我们遇到的另一个危险来自响尾蛇，我女儿就差点踩到一条。但是到最后，除了长点水泡和掉些脚趾甲，大部分徒步者都还好。而且，实在是很难剥夺人们在荒野圣殿里感受一点自然疗法的机会。
It’s striking that hikers come to the trail for solitary reflection, yet often end up coalescing into groups — because we are social animals, and solitude is so much more fun when you have somebody to share it with.
不同寻常的地方在于，那些前来徒步寻求孤独反思的人最后往往反倒融入了群体——因为我们是群居动物，而孤寂在有人分享时反倒显得有趣得多。
There’s a hobo spirit on the trail, with no social distinctions and everybody helping everyone else. One example of this generosity is the work of “trail angels” who lug water, soda, hamburgers, cookies or other treats to places where a road intersects a trail, to delight exhausted backpackers. This is controversial, partly because animals also dine on treats that are left out, and it’s also not exactly wilderness when you come across a cooler with soda.
行走在这条路上的人们有一种流浪者精神，他们相互之间没有社会地位差别，彼此帮助。这种慷慨的例证之一是“徒步天使”的事迹。他们往徒步路线和普通道路的交叉口运送饮用水、汽水、汉堡、饼干和其他零食，提供给精疲力尽的背包客。这种行为存在争议，部分原因在于那里的动物也会享用剩下的食物，而且如果有机会在中途喝上冰冻汽水，这称不上为真正的野外徒步了。
Still, all this generosity and mutual assistance is truly heartwarming. At about the 140-mile mark, my daughter and I came across a trail angel “library” — a glass-protected bookshelf of paperbacks for any hikers needing to weather out a snowstorm.
不过，这种慷慨和互助的确很暖心。在步行到大约140英里的地方时，我和女儿遇到了一个徒步天使“图书馆”——一个由玻璃保护起来的书架，摆着平装书，提供给需要熬过暴风雪的徒步者。
Professor Robert Putnam of Harvard may be right that an unfortunate fragmentation of society has left us Americans “bowling alone.” But, on the brighter side, we’re “hiking together”!
哈佛教授罗伯特·帕特南(Robert Putnam)表达的观点可能是对的，社会分化非常不幸地让我们美国人陷入了“独自打保龄”的境地。然而幸运的是，我们还在“一起徒步”！