Trekking Across Switzerland, Guided by Locals’ Hand-Drawn Maps

I hadn’t expected snow.

我没想到会下雪。

But now it was blowing sideways, and the wind was strong enough that it was hard to stand.

但现在却是侧风吹来，风大得让人难以站立。

Clouds swirled around me.

云彩在我周围盘旋。

Visibility at a minimum.

可见度最低。

I was OK but felt close to the edge — closer than I’d expected on a summer day.

我还好，但感觉已经接近边缘了——比我在夏日预想的还要近。

But this was also the day that Chris, an American sitting in a mountain hut, drew me the last sketch I would need, leading me all the way to Lake Constance and the Rhine.

但就在这一天，美国人克里斯坐在山间小屋里，为我画了最后一张草图，一路领着我来到了康斯坦茨湖和莱茵河。

So perhaps the most difficult day was also the day I knew for sure that I would make it — that I’d find my way across Switzerland with nothing but the hand-drawn maps of strangers.

因此，也许最困难的一天也是我确信自己能成功的那一天——除了陌生人手绘的地图外，我会找到穿越瑞士的路。

Last summer, frustrated with the predictability of recent travel experiences, I set out to walk across Switzerland without a phone or a preplanned route.

去年夏天，由于对近期旅行经历的可预测性感到沮丧，我开始徒步穿越瑞士，没有手机，也没有预先计划的路线。

I allotted 12 days, beginning on the shores of Lake Geneva, in the west, and heading in the general direction of Lake Constance, in the northeast — a distance, as the crow flies, of about 150 miles.

我分配了 12 天的时间，从西边的日内瓦湖畔出发，朝着东北部康斯坦茨湖的大致方向前进——直线距离约为 150 英里。

Nostalgic for the time before ubiquitous connectivity, when we relied on paper maps and conversations with strangers, I came up with a novel way to organize my trip: Each day, I planned to ask locals I met to sketch hand-drawn maps for me, which I would then follow as best I could.

怀念连接无处不在之前的时代，当我们依靠纸质地图和与陌生人交谈时，我想出了一种新颖的方式来组织我的旅行：每天，我计划让我遇到的当地人为我绘制手绘地图，然后我会尽力遵循。

I wanted to know if it was possible to walk across a country like this.

我想知道是否可以徒步穿越这样的国家。

I wanted to know what it would teach me about how technology and convenience have changed the way we travel.

我想知道它能教会我什么关于技术和便利如何改变我们的旅行方式。

I wanted to be lost, and to find my way through the artwork of strangers.

我想要迷失方向，想要在陌生人的艺术作品中找到出路。

I start at the edge of Lake Geneva.

我从日内瓦湖边开始。

The sun is shining; only much later will I realize that what I crave more than a map is a weather forecast.

阳光明媚；很久以后我才会意识到，我比地图更渴望的是天气预报。

At a cafe in the lakeside town of Montreux, where I begin my walk, I meet a girl named Melanie, who draws me a map — annotated with beautiful, tiny script — that leads me uphill past a castle: the Caux Palace.

在蒙特勒湖畔小镇的一家咖啡馆里，我开始散步，在那里遇到了一位名叫梅兰妮的女孩，她给我画了一张地图——上面标注着美丽的小文字——引导我上山经过一座城堡：考克斯宫。

She adds details about its history, as a site of negotiations on the future of postwar Europe.

她补充了有关其历史的详细信息，作为战后欧洲未来的谈判场所。

The path uphill quickly enters a narrow river gorge — lush trees and suddenly a different world from the lakeside.

上山的小路很快就进入了一条狭窄的河谷，树木茂盛，顿时又是一个与湖边不同的世界。

I am alone.

我独自一人。

Higher, the woods open out into Alpine meadows, which hum with insects.

海拔更高处，树林延伸至高山草甸，草甸上昆虫嗡嗡作响。

The grass is so thick that at times I lose the path and wade upwards through a sea of flowers.

草很茂密，有时我迷失了方向，涉水向上穿过一片花海。

I hike for three hours — past the castle and its narrow turrets — then sleep out in the open, on a viewing platform near the summit.

我徒步了三个小时——经过城堡和它狭窄的塔楼——然后在山顶附近的一个观景台上露天睡觉。

I’m elated: I made it through my first day.

我很高兴：我度过了第一天。

The next morning, I head downhill toward a farm near Col de Chaude, a mountain pass where two cheesemakers draw my next map.

第二天早上，我下山前往肖德山口附近的一个农场，这是一个山口，两名奶酪制造商在那里绘制了我的下一张地图。

First, though, is breakfast: cream piled on bread with a big wooden scoop.

首先是早餐：用大木勺将奶油堆在面包上。

Meanwhile, a huge cauldron of milk heats over an open fire, on its way to being cheese.

与此同时，一大锅牛奶在明火上加热，逐渐变成奶酪。

Their map is simple: down from the farm, across a valley beside a dam and up toward a pass.

他们的地图很简单：从农场出发，穿过水坝旁边的山谷，向上到达山口。

Almost all the detail is in the house and the cowshed — there are five doors on the shed and a big chimney on the house, because, they say, “that’s where we make cheese over the fire.”

几乎所有的细节都在房子和牛棚里——棚子上有五扇门，房子上有一个大烟囱，因为，他们说，“那是我们在火上制作奶酪的地方。”

This teaches me something unexpected about maps.

这教会了我一些关于地图的意想不到的事情。

I was asking people how to get somewhere.

我问人们如何到达某个地方。

But more often than not, what they illustrate were the things to which they pay attention.

但更多时候，他们所展示的是他们所关注的事物。

For these farmers, what is important is the number of doors on the cowshed and the limits to the valley they call home.

对于这些农民来说，重要的是牛棚上的门的数量以及他们称之为家的山谷的界限。

Later that day in a cafe in Château d’Oex, I talk to Charlotte, the retired schoolteacher sitting next to me.

那天晚些时候，在代堡的一家咖啡馆里，我与坐在我旁边的退休教师夏洛特交谈。

She orders ice cream for lunch.

她午餐点了冰淇淋。

“I have watched my weight for 60 years and now I don’t care anymore,” she says.

“60 年来我一直关注自己的体重，现在我不再关心了，”她说。

Her map includes the number of meters I’ll need to climb and descend to reach the next valley.

她的地图包括我需要爬升和下降才能到达下一个山谷的米数。

She remembers them exactly because she once ran over these passes.

她之所以记得清清楚楚，是因为她曾经跑过这些山口。

Our attention is a gift.

我们的关注是一份礼物。

Reading maps is an act of empathy.

阅读地图是一种同理心的行为。

They tell us as much about the person who made them as they do about the world.

它们向我们讲述了关于创造它们的人以及关于世界的信息。

In my tent at night I’ve been reading Homer’s “Odyssey.” I’ve learned that in the ancient world, before hotels, travelers relied on the kindness of strangers — on expectations of what was called xenia, or hospitality — to form bonds with those who might otherwise have turned them away.

晚上我在帐篷里读荷马的《奥德赛》。我了解到，在古代世界，在酒店出现之前，旅行者依靠陌生人的善意——也就是所谓的“热情好客”的期望——来与那些本来可能会拒绝他们的人建立联系。

Hosts also provided help for a guest’s onward journey.

房东还为房客的后续旅程提供帮助。

I stop at a farmhouse, still ragged with sleep from my camp on a mountain pass.

我在一座农舍前停了下来，我在山口的营地里还睡得很困。

Through the half-open door an old couple and their grandson are eating breakfast.

半开的门外，一对老夫妇和他们的孙子正在吃早餐。

They have been up since dawn to milk the cows.

他们从天一亮就起床给奶牛挤奶。

They invite me in for coffee, bread and jam.

他们邀请我去喝咖啡、面包和果酱。

The farmer, Rudy, carefully draws me a map in between his morning tasks.

农民鲁迪在早上的任务间隙仔细地给我画了一张地图。

He is busy, he says, but he wants to make me a good map: “I don’t want you to get lost,” he says.

他说他很忙，但他想让我制作一张好地图：“我不想让你迷路，”他说。

He gets out one of his own maps to check the compass points, then pencils them in.

他拿出一张自己的地图来检查罗盘点，然后用铅笔把它们记下来。

He tells me the farm has belonged to his family since 1664.

他告诉我，这座农场自 1664 年起就属于他的家族。

That night, having hiked along a winding path through crags and cliffs into Gstaad, and then along a rising stream toward a pass studded with farmhouses, I squeeze through a gap into an empty barn.

那天晚上，我沿着一条蜿蜒的小路徒步穿过峭壁和悬崖进入格施塔德，然后沿着一条上涨的溪流走向一个布满农舍的山口，从一个缺口挤进一个空谷仓。

I’m on the hillside above the town of Lenk and a thunderstorm has begun.

我在伦克镇上方的山坡上，雷雨已经开始。

I am drenched.

我浑身湿透了。

I sit in the straw and eat the piece of cheese Rudy gave me as I left.

我坐在稻草上，吃着离开时鲁迪给我的那块奶酪。

I read about the chariot Nestor gives to Odysseus’s son to help him reach Sparta — help for the onward journey.

我读到内斯特送给奥德修斯儿子帮助他到达斯巴达的战车——为继续旅程提供帮助。

I hang everything out to dry and listen to the roar of the rain.

我把所有东西都挂起来晾干，听着雨声。

The next day I follow the profile map that a man near the village of Adelboden drew for me, including where to find a “freezing shower.” I avoid it and swim in Oeschinen Lake instead, before sleeping in the grass of a meadow above.

第二天，我按照阿德尔博登村附近的一个人为我绘制的个人资料图进行操作，其中包括在哪里可以找到“冰冻淋浴”。我避开它，而是在厄希嫩湖（Oeschinen Lake）游泳，然后睡在上面草地的草地上。

Atop the Sefinenfurgge Pass, I ask two women, Lillan and Dora, to draw me a map to take me farther east.

在塞芬福格山口的山顶，我请两位女士莉兰和多拉给我画了一张地图，带我去更远的东方。

They work together, laughing wildly while they produce a picture that’s mostly of cows and flowers.

他们一起工作，一边狂笑一边创作一幅主要是牛和花的画。

Lillan is Norwegian and Dora is Australian.

莉兰是挪威人，多拉是澳大利亚人。

They are friends who haven’t seen each other in years but who have come to hike here together.

他们是多年未见的朋友，却一起来到这里徒步旅行。

Once they finish, one of them says, “You thought you were asking us for something, but actually it was you who gave us a gift.”

讲完后，其中一个人说：“你以为你是在向我们要东西，但实际上是你给了我们一份礼物。”

On my second climb of the day, up a mountain pass called the Grosse Scheidegg , I play a game to take my mind off my aching legs.

当天第二次攀登时，我爬上了一座名为格罗斯谢德格 (Grosse Scheidegg) 的山口，我玩了一个游戏来转移自己酸痛的双腿的注意力。

It’s simple: Guess where the path will go next.

很简单：猜猜接下来的路会走向哪里。

The map I’m using was drawn by Susana, a Portuguese woman who married into a local family and now runs a mountain refuge near the village of Grindelwald.

我使用的地图是由苏珊娜绘制的，她是一位葡萄牙妇女，嫁给了当地的一个家庭，现在在格林德尔瓦尔德村附近经营着一个山区避难所。

The map mostly shows me the refuges I’ll pass, and what I should eat at each — which is delightful.

地图主要向我展示了我将经过的避难所，以及我在每个避难所应该吃什么——这很令人愉快。

But I’m also exhausted, and my guesses about which way the path will go are often wrong.

但我也很疲惫，而且我对这条路的猜测常常是错误的。

I have a habit of looking ahead.

我有向前看的习惯。

Even when doing something I love, I often imagine what’s coming next.

即使在做我喜欢的事情时，我也经常想象接下来会发生什么。

I realize as I walk that not having a phone or a proper map — and thus not knowing what’s around the bend — has snapped me out of the habit.

当我走路时，我意识到没有手机或合适的地图——因此不知道拐弯处有什么——让我戒掉了这个习惯。

If I don’t know what’s coming, I can’t imagine myself there.

如果我不知道接下来会发生什么，我就无法想象自己在那里。

Suddenly I’m present and engaged in a way I rarely am.

突然间，我以一种罕见的方式出现并投入其中。

I look up to find a falcon hanging in the wind, caught in the roar of the air.

我抬头一看，发现一只猎鹰悬在风中，​​在空中咆哮。

It swoops, veering away down the valley.

它俯冲而下，转向山谷下方。

Late that evening, I stumble into Victoria Restaurant , in the village of Meiringen.

那天晚上很晚，我偶然走进迈林根村的维多利亚餐厅。

I eat the best meal of my trip.

我吃的是我旅行中最好的一餐。

Simon, the chef, draws me a map that points uphill past several springs to the top of a mountain, where he’s added the label “Power Energy Stone.” It’s a special place, he says.

主厨西蒙给我画了一张地图，上面标着上坡经过几个泉水到达山顶，他在山顶上添加了“能量石”的标签。他说，这是一个特别的地方。

There’s a hotel above the restaurant.

餐厅上面有一家酒店。

I stay the night, glad to have somewhere dry to sleep.

我过夜，很高兴能有一个干燥的地方睡觉。

In the morning I’ll go looking for magic rocks.

早上我会去寻找魔法石。

Nature is a murky concept here.

自然在这里是一个模糊的概念。

In spite of the mountains, the landscape is very manicured: grazing meadows, clearly marked paths, carefully managed woods.

尽管有山，风景却非常修剪整齐：放牧的草地、标记清晰的小路、精心管理的树林。

What’s wild is well hidden.

野生的东西都隐藏得很好。

In the evening I see a fox crossing a meadow above the town of Engelberg — all fur, and so light on its feet that it looks like a marionette: afloat, barely touching the stage.

晚上，我看到一只狐狸穿过英格堡镇上空的草地——全身都是毛皮，脚上的脚步如此轻盈，看起来就像一个木偶：漂浮在水面上，几乎没有碰到舞台。

Marmots, a pair of them, very young, peer at me from across the path.

一对土拨鼠，非常年轻，从路对面凝视着我。

They’re gone so quickly I barely see them move.

他们走得太快了，我几乎看不到他们在动。

The curated landscapes make Switzerland the perfect place for this kind of adventure.

精心策划的景观使瑞士成为此类冒险的完美之地。

It would be foolhardy to do this in Tasmania, where I’m from, or in the American West — places where you could really get lost.

在我来自的塔斯马尼亚或美国西部，这样做是鲁莽的，因为在这些地方你可能会迷路。

Here, yellow signs point to well-maintained public trails.

在这里，黄色标志指向维护良好的公共步道。

(An article of the Swiss Constitution mandates that footpaths and hiking trails be maintained.) Villages and trains are never far away.

（瑞士宪法的一条规定必须维护人行道和远足小径。）村庄和火车就在附近。

Even with roughly sketched maps, it is possible to (mostly) not be lost.

即使有粗略的地图，也有可能（大部分）不会迷路。

In any case, Kris, a solo Danish hiker I meet beside the Trübsee Lake, draws me a map.

无论如何，我在特吕布湖畔遇到的一位单独的丹麦徒步旅行者克里斯给我画了一张地图。

I ask her for a weather forecast.

我向她询问天气预报。

“Rain all week.

“整个星期都在下雨。

Maybe snow.”

也许会下雪。”

Our brains, what the neuroscientist and philosopher Andy Clark calls “prediction machines,” get better over time at anticipating reality.

我们的大脑，被神经科学家和哲学家安迪·克拉克称为“预测机器”，随着时间的推移，我们的大脑在预测现实方面会变得更好。

Often we can imagine the world so well that we no longer have to look at it.

通常我们可以很好地想象这个世界，以至于我们不再需要去看它。

And so, in familiar surroundings, it’s rare that our senses alert us that we’ve made a mistake — that what we first thought was a shadow is really an ibex poised under a tree in the dawn, for example.

因此，在熟悉的环境中，我们的感官很少会提醒我们犯了一个错误——例如，我们首先想到的影子实际上是黎明时分在树下的野山羊。

Predictability is a privilege.

可预测性是一种特权。

It makes daily life easier.

它让日常生活变得更加轻松。

But it’s also a curse.

但这也是一个诅咒。

By not paying attention, we don’t see the unexpected.

如果不注意，我们就看不到意外的情况。

We aren’t looking at the hillside trying to work out if the hand-drawn map we have is upside-down.

我们并不是看着山坡来判断我们手上的手绘地图是否是颠倒的。

Before this trip, I imagined all the hours I would be able to simply think while I walked.

在这次旅行之前，我想象着我可以边走边思考。

What I didn’t account for is how much time I would spend thinking about whether I was lost.

我没有考虑到我会花多少时间思考我是否迷路。

I also didn’t realize what I’d see when I paid attention to uncertainty, or how slowly time would pass when I had to look so closely at the world.

我也没有意识到当我关注不确定性时我会看到什么，或者当我不得不如此仔细地观察世界时时间会过得有多慢。

I walk through the sprawling canton of Schwyz, along a path made of huge granite slabs, following a map drawn by Peter and Andrea, two cheesemakers whose farm I pass.

我穿过广阔的施维茨州，沿着一条巨大的花岗岩板铺成的小路，沿着彼得和安德里亚绘制的地图，这两位奶酪制造商我经过了他们的农场。

This is the heart of Switzerland — the original cantons that formed the Old Swiss Confederacy, the precursor to the modern-day country.

这里是瑞士的心脏，是形成旧瑞士联邦的原始州，也是现代国家的前身。

I hardly see another person all day; it feels like the most isolated place I’ve been.

我一整天几乎见不到另一个人；感觉这是我去过的最偏僻的地方。

The next morning, after camping in a damp meadow above a lake called the Klöntalersee, I stop for breakfast at Gasthaus Richisau .

第二天早上，在克伦塔勒湖 (Klöntalersee) 上方潮湿的草地上露营后，我在 Gasthaus Richisau 停下来吃早餐。

A couple working at an artists’ retreat there draws me a map to get me to the Walensee, a lake near the border with Liechtenstein.

一对在艺术家静修所工作的夫妇给我画了一张地图，带我前往靠近列支敦士登边境的瓦伦湖。

They cannot understand why I insist on walking in the rain.

他们不明白我为什么坚持在雨中行走。

They draw a bus on their map.

他们在地图上画了一辆公共汽车。

“Why don’t you take this?” they ask.

“你为什么不拿这个？”他们问。

“You won’t get lost.

“你不会迷路的。

It always leaves on time.”

它总是准时出发。”

As I get closer to Lake Constance, my endpoint, the rain falls harder, until it is snowing sideways.

当我接近我的终点康斯坦茨湖时，雨下得更大，直到侧面下雪。

I’m nearly blown over.

我差点被吹倒了。

It’s freezing, and so I start to run downhill to warm up.

天很冷，所以我开始跑下坡取暖。

I laugh at how silly this whole thing is — and I’m still laughing when a tractor drives toward me.

我嘲笑这整件事是多么愚蠢——当拖拉机向我驶来时，我还在笑。

The farmer inside is dry and warm.

农家里面干燥而温暖。

He looks at me and laughs, too.

他看着我，也笑了。

A man called Jon draws me a map of how to cross the canton of Glarus, which is bookended by the Klöntalersee and the Walensee, two exceedingly pretty lakes.

一个叫乔恩的人给我画了一张如何穿越格拉鲁斯州的地图，格拉鲁斯州以克伦塔勒湖和瓦伦湖这两个非常美丽的湖泊为界。

With the inclement weather behind us, we forage for blackberries while we talk.

恶劣的天气已经过去，我们一边聊天一边采摘黑莓。

He is there to BASE jump with a wingsuit and is camping by the lake in a van.

他穿着翼装去那里进行定点跳伞，并开着一辆货车在湖边露营。

His map is marked with cliffs and valleys — and the airport, which I guess one has to watch out for when you’re also a kind of flying machine.

他的地图上标有悬崖和山谷，还有机场，我想当你也是一种飞行机器时，你必须留意机场。

Later, Chris, an American who has lived for decades nearby, draws me my final map.

后来，在附近生活了几十年的美国人克里斯为我画了最后一张地图。

He has climbed and skied all over this region, and his map is among the most detailed of all: couloirs and climbing areas.

他曾在这个地区攀岩和滑雪，他的地图是最详细的：山沟和攀岩区。

I want to go in every direction.

我想向各个方向发展。

There’s material here for a lifetime of wandering.

这里有适合一生流浪的材料。

When I finally get to Lake Constance, I jump in, despite the cold.

当我终于到达康斯坦茨湖时，尽管天气寒冷，我还是跳了进去。

Afterward, I calculate that I’ve walked about 250 miles.

后来我算了一下，我走了大约250英里。

I largely avoided getting hopelessly lost.

我很大程度上避免了绝望的迷路。

After my swim, I walk along the lake to the train station.

游完泳后，我沿着湖步行去火车站。

The timetable is printed on the platform, and the train arrives on time.

站台上印有时刻表，火车准时到达。

Sometimes predictability is a blessing.

有时，可预测性是一种福气。

An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the waterfall made famous by Sherlock Holmes.

本文的早期版本错误地描述了因福尔摩斯而闻名的瀑布的名称。

It is Reichenbach Falls, not Trümmelbach Falls.

这是赖兴巴赫瀑布，而不是特吕默尔巴赫瀑布。