THE VERY BIG SKY GUIDE ˂ ٤ʘ ے
One set of wheels, two parents, 3,000 kilometres: it all adds up to a Big Sky US road trip for LAURA CHUBB Laura Chubb帶著父母，駕著一輛汽車，踏上全長3,000公里的美國「大天空之鄉」公路自駕遊
ÔWe had bears in the campground today,’ the check-in guy at Yellowstone’s Bridge Bay Campground breezily announces, pushing a wad of ‘Bear Aware’ pamphlets towards me. ‘So, if you go to the toilet at night, take bear spray.’ If the prospect of trying to pepper-spray a grizzly wasn’t enough to keep me locked inside our rented motorhome, the sight that greeted us at our camping pitch was. There, etched into the tree we’d parked against, were claw marks so deep sap flowed out of them in thick, honey-like clumps. I believe the term is: gulp.
This was all my fault. I’d invited my parents on a 3,000-kilometre road trip through some of North America’s biggest scenery, then insisted we eschew
黃石國家公園的Bridge Bay Campground營地為旅客登記的男職員一面輕描淡寫地提醒我：營「 地裡有熊出沒，所以，如要在晚上去洗手間，記得帶備防熊噴。霧 」一面將一小疊「防熊須知的」 小冊子遞給我。如果聽到可能需要以胡椒噴霧來對付大灰熊，未仍 足以嚇得我將自己反鎖在租的營來 露 車裡的，話 當我們踏入營地時看見的景象，卻足以讓我魂飛魄散。我們將車停泊在一棵樹旁邊，皮樹 上有極深的爪痕，黏稠的樹液從傷口汨汨流出，結成有如蜜糖的厚塊。
我認為「倒抽一口涼氣」最能形容我當時的。心情都是我不好。我邀請父母與我踏上3,000公里的公路之旅，暢遊北美洲多處壯麗的絕景，卻堅持不要入住汽車旅館，改為租用一輛長八米、配備三張床鋪，擁有255匹馬力的福特V8 RV露營。車 我認為既然能深夠 入野外，與大自然作最親密的接觸，又何必租住位於野
motels for an eight-metre-long, three-bed, 255-horsepower Ford V8 RV. Why book a room on the edge of wildness when you can stay in the middle of it? I’d picked Idaho, Wyoming and Montana for their legendary, empty vastness: together, they offer more than 44,000 square kilometres of designated wilderness. I’d also wondered about the human stories hiding in the furrows of these barren landscapes. Now I had a taste of living further down the food chain – and found myself ungenerously relieved we were surrounded by people in tents (they’d make far easier prey).
A week earlier, mum, dad and I touched down in Boise, Idaho’s state capital. Until recently, Idaho had just one, unglamorous claim to fame: potato farming. The slogan on car number plates even reads ‘Famous Potatoes’. But, today, the nation’s best-kept secret is getting out. Idaho was the fastest-growing US state by population last year, according to the Census Bureau, as word spreads about its great outdoors (13 national forests, 18 ski resorts, 26 外邊緣的旅館來霧裡看？花呢 我選擇以愛達荷、懷俄明和蒙大拿三州為目的，地 因為這三個州都擁有一望無際的荒野，合起來的面積超逾44,000平方公里。這一大片人煙稀少的土地還有不少引人入勝的，故事令我對此地的好奇心大增。現在我親身體驗到幾乎成為獵物的滋味，可是當我發現周圍還有其他人在這裡搭了帳篷露營，時我竟然卑鄙鬆地 了一口氣，心裡在想：對於野熊來說，他們是較易得手的獵物。
一個星期，前 我和父母乘飛機抵達愛達荷州首府博伊西。直至不久之前，愛達荷的唯一特色就是毫無特色的鈴馬 薯種植業，就連當地的車牌上都以「馳鈴名馬 薯」為口號。但現在，美國最秘而不宣的秘密正逐漸被人宣揚，開來 愈來愈多人發現愛達荷州原來是戶外活動勝地，擁有13個國家森林、18家滑雪度假村、酒店 26個州立公園和逾30條風光如畫的高速公路，而且物價低廉。根據美國人口調查與統計局的普查結果顯，示 愛達荷州是去年全美人口增長最迅速的。州份
博伊西的市中心一如其他平淡乏味的美國大城市，一樣 有一堆高樓大廈，這樣的一個地方，絕不會令你想起西班牙美食和度假名城聖薩巴斯蒂安的。風情 可是就在這個平平無奇、高樓林立的市中心區裡，竟然有一個Basque Block巴斯克小區。陽光斑駁的庭院裡，顧客三五成群散坐其中，開心地一面舉杯暢飲巴斯泡克氣 酒txakoli，一面品嚐巴斯克風味下酒小菜 pintxos。
原來在19世紀末，不少巴斯牧克 羊人遠赴愛達荷州的鄉郊謀生。在嚴寒的
state parks and over 30 scenic highways) and bargain prices.
Boise is also one of the last places on Earth you’d expect to find a slice of San Sebastián, Spain’s famously foodie, Basque resort city. Yet amid the high-rises of a uniform-looking North American downtown, we find the ‘Basque Block’, where sun-dappled patios are peppered with diners clinking glasses of txakoli (Basque sparkling wine) and nibbling on
pintxos (Basque tapas).
Turns out that in the late 19th century, throngs of Basque shepherds sought their fortunes in rural Idaho. Harsh winters were spent with fellow Basques in Boise boarding houses, and the strong community they built stuck. Which explains spots like Bar Gernika, its half-timbered interiors imitating historic Basque farmhouses, serving traditional
kalimotxo – a rather studenty-sounding combo of Coca-Cola and red wine. It’s served over ice, with a slice of lemon, and is surprisingly good.
‘ What’s happening in Hawaii – that’ll be us someday.’ Ranger Ron Silberstein delivers his doomsday pronouncement with ho-hum matter-of-factness. The news footage out of Hawaii lately has been all blazing-orange lava and black smoke. Around 280 kilometres east of Boise, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve shows what happens when volcanoes really get to erupting. It represents the aftermath of a lava flood of Biblical proportions that scientists reckon dates back only 2,000 years.
The Devil’s Orchard is our favourite spot: an eerie ‘garden’ sprung from dead ground. Lumber pines afflicted with ‘witches’ broom’, their branches distorted into tangles by a parasitic plant, stick up between charred fragments of lava, the scene fairytale-spooky; like the rest of the park, it’s oddly picturesque, and all borne from the violence right beneath our feet.
That violence is laid disconcertingly bare when we cross into Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park. There’s a gentle beauty about the pine forests and placid lakes here that lends even greater power to the stuff we really came to see – geysers belching boiling water; evil-looking, bubbling mud pots; and, everywhere, steam escaping the Earth’s angry crust.
We make a beeline for Old Faithful, which periodically blasts a geyser of water as high as 55 metres. It’s more affable than expected: less fierce burst than fountainy whoosh. The star attraction is Grand Prismatic Spring, the park’s largest thermal pool – and its most colourful, thanks to microorganisms called thermophiles, bacteria that love blistering-hot conditions no other lifeform can survive. Driving towards the basin where the spring sits, we spot luminous orange, blue and yellow steam. Thanks to Instagram, the spring has lately gone from sideshow to major draw, but retains its modestly sized car park, so expect a crush.
OLD FAITHFUL IS MORE AFFABLE THAN EXPECTED: LESS FIERCE BURST THAN FOUNTAINY WHOOSH OLD FAITHFUL間歇泉比想像中可親，並沒有猛烈的噴發，只發出嘩嘩流動的聲音
冬季，他們與同鄉在博伊西租住供膳宿的房子，從此建立緊密的社群關係，並且一直維繫至今。因此我才會找到一家像Bar Gernika那樣的酒吧，裡面的裝潢材料有一半採用木材，模仿古老的巴斯克農舍；酒吧供應傳一種 統的kalimotxo雞尾酒，以可口可樂與酒紅混，和加再冰塊和一片檸檬飲，聽用驟 似是品酒初哥的飲，品 但卻出奇地好味。
護林員Ron Silberstein以沒抑有 揚頓挫和不帶情語感 的 調來發出末日警示：「威夏夷現在發生的事情有，終 一天會發生在我們 身上。」近日從電視新聞上見到的夏威夷，盡是熾熱的橙紅熔岩和濃濃黑煙的畫面。位於博伊西以東280公里的Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve國家念和紀 地 保護區，就展現出火山真正大規模爆發時的威力。大量熔岩過流 形成的大片遺跡，令人以為那是數百萬年前發生的事，科但學估家 計約大只有2,000年歷史。
我們最喜愛的景點是Devil’s Orchard，這是從個 一片死氣沉沉的荒地中冒出來的花「」園，裡面的風景非常詭異：松樹的樹幹被一種名為「紅花寄生的」寄生植物侵襲，枝椏因而變得扭曲纏結，黑在焦 的岩熔碎片之間豎起，構成有如童話現又般超 實但陰森象的景 。園跟公 其他地方一樣，這裡有種奇詭之美，全都是因為我們現在所站立的位置曾噴出大量熔岩所致。
當們過我 越 州界，踏入日俄州明 的黃石國家公園，時 見到美麗的松樹林和恬的湖泊，方色宜人，然而接下來卻看到不時噴發熾熱水柱的間歇泉；不停冒泡的泥塘，看上去十分可怕；此外到處都見到蒸從氣躁動不安的地殼裊裊上升，園瀰漫 內處各 。兩方種 象對比強烈，令人充分感受到大自然威的力。
我們直奔著名的Old Faithful間泉歇 ，它噴出的水柱高可 達55米，不過並沒有猛烈的噴發發，只 出嘩嘩流動的聲音，比我想像中可親得多。這裡的星級方點是大稜鏡溫亦泉是，黃石公園裡最大型和色彩最鮮艷的熱泉。由於泉水內有量大 嗜微熱 生物，它們可以在其他生物無法生存熾的 熱環境中生長，因此令大稜鏡泉溫 出現繽紛的色彩我。 們駛向溫泉所在的盆地時，看就 見熱泉散出發 螢光橙色、藍和色 黃色的氣蒸 。拜Instagram所賜，這個以往遊人不太多的溫泉近年已變成客遊 必到的勝地，不過原來那個面積不算很大的停車場並未因客訪 增多而擴建，因此會很難找到泊車的空位。
我在們 黃石公園逗留的最後一晚，也就是知道有野熊在附近出沒的時候。我父親嘲笑我是膽小鬼，不過我留意到他也沒有開露離過 營。車
兩站之間的車程有也 令人難忘的時刻例， 如有頭型升 一 外 魁梧兇猛的美洲野牛在我們的露營車前悠閒地走過；但論到誇的張 程度，卻以Smith Mansion大最宅為極致。這棟建木 樓房高五層，位於風光秀麗的North Fork Highway高速公路旁一座孤伶伶的山上，是前往洋溢西部牛仔風的情 Cody鎮的必經之地。這座樓房的外型十分怪誕，就像來自扭曲了的格林童話故關事。 於這座怪屋有很多傳，說 但是背後故的 事只， 有Sunny Larsen最楚清。她的父親就是建造這座房子的人，可說是個「現代拓荒者」，22年來在沒有任何藍圖情的 況下，不斷建造這棟樓房，一層又一層的加建至，直 他不慎從高層陽台上墮下身亡，工程才戛然終止。現在Sunny組織導遊團帶，領旅客參觀這座房子，決意「保護、育保 和分享」俄日 明這段古怪的歷故史掌 。
Our last night in Yellowstone is the night the bears are lurking. Despite my dad making out like I’m a wuss, I notice he doesn’t leave the motorhome either.
The drives between stops offer their own memorable moments – like a menacingly muscular bison sauntering past our bonnet. But nothing is wilder than Smith Mansion. Propped on an isolated hill above the scenic North Fork Highway, en route to the cowboy town of Cody, this five-storey, mutated cabin looks like something out of a particularly twisted Grimm fairytale. Only Sunny Larsen knows the real story – her dad, whom she calls ‘a modern-day mountain man’, built it, adding floor after floor, with no blueprint, for 22 years. Construction stopped only when he died after accidentally falling from an upper balcony. Sunny now gives tours, determined to ‘protect, preserve and share’ this eccentric chapter of Wyoming’s story.
Approaching the front door, I spot the carcass of a recently mauled mule deer.
‘ We have a grizzly problem,’ Sunny nods. ‘ They eat fermented apples they find on the ground around here and it gets them drunk.’ Not keen on becoming a sozzled bear’s end-of-binge kebab, I follow Sunny into the house, where she shows me her dad’s interior creations: wooden hammock-style beds, wind chimes made from old railroad ties, logs-turned-diningtable-and-chairs. Her memories of growing up here range from the sublime to the ridiculous – a racoon once moved in and would help itself to dinner on the stove, replacing the saucepan lid afterwards – and we end the tour gazing out from one of the uppermost, open-sided platforms, ranches and snow-speckled mountains spread as far as the eye can make out.
Things get even more surreal in Montana. This is the famed Big Sky Country, at once the nation’s fourth-largest and third least-densely populated state.
But just outside the one-road town of Fishtail, we find Tippet Rise, a 40-squarekilometre art centre in the middle of this glorious nowhere, with strange sculptures scattered across epic, empty ranchlands. Here, an old schoolhouse strangled by mysterious tangles of willow reed; there, two enormous boulders – each weighing the same as a baby blue whale – leaned together as if dropped from the sky. Philanthropists Peter and Cathy Halstead long imagined this trippy art park, then magicked it into reality, aided by a troupe of ambitious artists and their own cavernous pockets. Wonderful as the sight is, even better is the price point – US$10 (HK$78) for a sculpture tour, and the same again for the classical music concerts they hold around the artworks through summer.
If Tippet Rise is among the state’s better achievements, our next stop represents one of US history’s most infamous follies.
The Battle of Little Bighorn is generally regarded as the moment a decorated Civil War hero, General George Armstrong Custer, paid the price for his own hubris, when – vastly outnumbered – he was killed by tribal warriors he’d attempted to expel from contested land. But our visit exposes more layers of the story, a tragedy for everyone, leading to the surrender of the last Native Americans resisting the US Army, and ending their way of life on Montana’s plains. Alongside white marble headstones commemorating where US soldiers fell, red granite markers honour the Cheyenne and Lakota fighters who died defending their traditions. And though there are excellent hourly ‘battle talks’ by fabulously dramatic rangers, the graves scattered across these now peaceful plains tell their own story.
Wasteful as it was, I understand why people might spar over all this; what Buffalo Bill called ‘the free life of the plains’. After living just two weeks in this landscape – albeit with doors that lock and a microwave – you feel that bit more like an animal, returned to your natural habitat, both afraid and entranced.
The writer rented a motorhome with Cruise America (cruiseamerica.com). For more on visiting Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, see visitidaho.org; travelwyoming.com; and visitmt.com
我走近房子的大門前，見到一頭尾黑鹿的屍體，牠顯然剛被咬死不久。Sunny點頭道「：我們正備受大灰熊的困擾們。牠 吃了掉在地上的腐爛蘋果後發，酵的果令肉
牠們酩酊大醉」。 我不想成為爛醉的野熊用來下酒的串燒，於是跟隨Sunny走進屋裡；她向我介紹她父親創作的室內物品， 括形床如吊 的木床、以舊路軌枕木製成的風鈴，以及原木製餐的 桌和椅子。她在這裡大長 的記憶，美由 妙愜意以至滑稽趣怪應有盡有；例如曾有浣熊不請自來，闖進廚房，在爐頭上老實不氣享客 地 用自助晚，餐飽後餐之 還不忘蓋上平底鍋的蓋子賞。導團結束，時 我從們 最頂層的其中一個開放式平台往外眺望，極目所見盡是綠草如茵的牧場和白雪點綴的山峰。
在蒙大拿，超現實的氣氛更加濃厚。這個著名的「大天空之鄉」是全美國第四大州，同時亦是人口密度第三低的州份。就在只由一條馬路貫小穿的 鎮Fishtail，我們竟找到佔地40平方公里的Tippet Rise藝術中心；造型奇特的雕塑散佈在空曠的草原中，點綴這片壯闊的荒野。在這一邊，一幢古老的校舍被神秘的柳條和葦蘆緊纏；
在另一兩邊，塊有如幼藍鯨般的巨石彼此倚傍，彷從彿 天而降。富的善裕 慈 家夫婦Peter和Cathy Halstead一直期望建造這樣一個如夢似幻的藝術公園，他們獲得一群目光遠大的藝術家襄助，加上雄厚的財力，最終令夢想成真。這裡的景藝品風 與 術固然教人歎為觀止，但是收費更加引吸無，論加參 雕塑導少或團， 是在藝術品環抱下舉行的夏季古典音樂會，都只需美10 元（ 78港）元 。
但如果Tippet Rise藝術中心代表了蒙大拿州優秀的一面，我們的下一站就象徵美國歷史上其中一樁最惡名昭彰的暴行。
一人般 認為南北戰爭猛將General George Armstrong Custer將在軍 Battle of Little Bighorn小巨戰角 役為中 其傲慢付出了代價，當時他企圖將原住民戰士驅除，奪取他們的土地，卻因寡不敵眾而被殺。但我們在戰憑古 場 弔時，卻發現這段歷史對所有人來說都一個悲劇：最後一批反抗美軍的原住民終於投，降 令他們的生活方式從此在蒙大拿的平原上消逝。在悼念亡陣 美軍的白色大理石墓碑旁邊同， 時豎立著紅色花崗岩紀，念碑 向為捍衛傳統而捐軀的Cheyenne族和Lakota族勇士致。敬雖然每隔一小時就有口若懸河的保育員為參者觀講述當年「精采」的戰況，但散落在這片寧的平原上的墳墓，卻訴說著另一個故事。
這片土地雖然一片荒蕪，我還是可以理解人們何以為此爭得焦頭爛額。正如拓荒的時代 傳奇人物Buffalo Bill所言，這裡洋溢著「我國的自由活力」。只要在這片土地住上兩個星期，即使置身於車門可以上鎖、備微有 波爐等現代化設施的露營車內，你也會覺得有如重返自然棲息地的動物，心情戰戰兢兢之中夾雜著狂。喜
筆者向Cruise America（cruiseamerica. com）租用露營車。如想獲得更多達愛荷、懷俄明和蒙大拿州的旅遊資訊，請瀏覽visitidaho.org；travelwyoming.com和visitmt.com DISCOVER BIG SKY COUNTRY Cathay Pacific flies from Hong Kong to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Seattle (launching on 31 March 2019). For details, visit cathaypacific.com
探索大天空之鄉國泰航空設有由香港飛往三藩市、洛杉磯、溫哥華及西雅圖（2019年3月31日推出）的航班，詳情請瀏覽cathaypacific.com