恩施大峡谷一日 · 绝壁与地缝

恩施大峡谷的游客中心在山下的沐抚，从恩施市区过来约一个半小时车程（有旅游专线）。早饭吃恩施口味：豆皮（米粉做的薄皮切成条，加辣子和肉臊，恩施人的早饭标配）、格格（一种小蒸笼蒸的粉蒸肉）、油茶汤。进景区先买票：七星寨和云龙地缝可以分开买也可以买套票，两条线都在景区里，一天都能走完。上七星寨可以坐索道（省一半力气）也可以爬台阶（多一个小时）。**今天走路多，鞋一定要好。**

The visitor centre sits at Mufu below the canyon, about an hour and a half from Enshi city (a tourist bus runs it). Breakfast is Enshi style: doupi, thin sheets of rice batter cut into strips and dressed with chilli and minced meat — the town's standard breakfast; gege, pork steamed in small bamboo baskets; and oil-tea soup. Buy tickets on arrival: Qixingzhai and the Yunlong Earth Crack come separately or as a combined ticket, both inside the same reserve and both doable in a day. For Qixingzhai you can take the cable car (saves half the effort) or climb the steps (an extra hour). Today means a lot of walking — good shoes are not optional.

七星寨最让人记住的就是这段绝壁栈道：栈道修在近乎垂直的石灰岩崖壁上，脚下是木板或石板，外侧是栏杆，栏杆外面就是几百米的落差。走在上面，一边是整面岩壁（上面有溶蚀出来的凹槽和石纹），一边是深谷和远处的峰林。云雾天最壮观——云从谷底往上涌，人像走在云上头。恐高的走内侧、扶好栏杆，别把身子探出去拍照。栈道全长好几公里，慢慢走两三个小时。

What people remember from Qixingzhai is this boardwalk: laid along a near-vertical limestone face, planks or stone slabs underfoot, a railing on the outside and beyond the railing a drop of several hundred metres. You walk with the whole rock wall on one side — grooved and patterned by dissolution — and a deep valley with distant peaks on the other. On a misty day it is at its most spectacular: cloud boiling up from the valley floor as you walk along the top of it. If heights bother you, keep to the inner edge and hold the rail — do not lean out for a photograph. The walkway runs several kilometres; a slow pass takes two or three hours.

一炷香是恩施大峡谷的招牌，一根细细高高的石柱，上下直径差不多，一百五十米上下，孤零零竖在山谷里。石灰岩被水顺着裂隙溶蚀，周围的岩石都溶掉了，就剩中间这一根，硬是没倒，看着像插在山谷里的一炷香，所以叫这名。拍照机位在栈道上，正对石柱的一段最好。这一带风化仍在继续，柱子上有细小的裂纹，属于保护范围，只能看不能近。

The Incense Stick is the canyon's signature: a slender pillar, roughly the same diameter top and bottom, about a hundred and fifty metres tall, standing alone in the valley. Water dissolving the limestone along its joints carried away all the surrounding rock and left this one column, which has simply refused to fall — a stick of incense planted in the valley, hence the name. The shooting position is on the walkway, best where it faces the pillar square. Weathering continues, and fine cracks show on the pillar; it is a protected feature — to be seen, not approached.

七星寨一路还有几个有名字的点：迎客松是崖壁缝里长出来的一棵松树，枝子伸向外侧，像在伸手迎客，长在绝壁上看着险，其实根抓得很牢；母子情深是两块石头，一大一小挨在一起，像母亲抱着孩子，是当地人起的名字，看着还真像。中午就在山上的服务点吃简餐：腊肉炒饭、蒸红薯、泡面、玉米，价格偏贵但省时间，也可以自带干粮。山顶风大，坐下吃饭时把外套穿上。

Qixingzhai has a string of named points along the way: the Greeting Pine is a pine growing out of a crack in the cliff, its branches reaching outward as if welcoming guests — precarious-looking on a sheer face, but its roots hold fast; Mother-and-Child is two rocks, one large and one small against each other, like a mother holding a child, named locally and looking, in truth, rather like it. Lunch is at the mountain service point: cured-pork fried rice, steamed sweet potato, instant noodles, corn — pricey but quick; your own rations work too. It is windy on the ridge; put your jacket on before sitting down to eat.

云龙地缝和七星寨是两回事：七星寨在山上，地缝在谷底。所谓「地缝」，就是地壳运动裂开的一条深缝，两边是笔直的岩壁，深几百米，最窄的地方几米宽。栈道修在缝底，人顺着缝走，抬头看天只剩窄窄的一条，两边岩壁上挂着瀑布、滴着水，底下是溪流。缝里阴凉、湿度大，夏天进来像开了空调，冬天则阴冷。走一趟一个多小时，出缝就是谷口。雨天缝里水大、有的段落会关，注意指示牌。

The Yunlong Earth Crack is another matter entirely from Qixingzhai: the one is up on the mountain, the other on the valley floor. A 'crack' is just what it sounds like — a fissure opened by crustal movement, rock walls dead vertical on both sides, several hundred metres deep, only a few metres wide at the narrowest. The boardwalk lies along the bottom and you walk inside it, looking up at a narrow strip of sky, small falls hanging off the walls and dripping, a stream underfoot. It is cool and damp inside — air-conditioned in summer, raw in winter. One pass takes a bit over an hour and brings you out at the mouth of the gorge. In rain the water rises and some sections close; mind the signs.

回恩施市区，晚上常去「土家女儿城」：一片仿土家族风格的街区，晚上灯笼一亮很热闹。土家族的摆手舞是集体舞，广场上有人带着跳，游客可以跟着；「摔碗酒」是土家族待客的习俗，喝完一碗把碗摔在地上，表示痛快（现在多是用专门的小陶碗，摔在指定地方）。街上有卖西兰卡普（土家织锦）、腊肉、玉露茶的铺子。这一段主要是感受气氛，吃小吃、看表演。

Back in Enshi city, the evening often ends at the Tujia Daughters' Town: a quarter built in Tujia style whose lanterns make it lively after dark. The hand-waving dance is a group dance led on the square, and visitors may join; 'bowl-smashing wine' is a Tujia way of welcoming guests — drain the bowl and smash it on the ground to show you enjoyed it (today, small clay bowls and a designated spot for the breaking). Shops sell xilankapu — Tujia brocade — cured pork and Yulu tea. The point of the place is atmosphere: snacks and a show.

恩施的菜很实在：合渣（黄豆磨浆加菜叶煮的糊糊，土家族家常菜，也叫「懒豆腐」）、土家腊肉（熏得黑亮，炒蒜苗最香）、格格（小蒸笼蒸的粉蒸肉或粉蒸排骨）、炕土豆（小土豆在锅里炕得外焦里糯，撒辣椒面）、榨广椒（辣椒和玉米面腌的，炒什么都下饭）。恩施玉露是当地名茶（蒸青绿茶），饭后可以喝一杯。走了一天山路，晚饭多吃点、早点睡。

Enshi cooking is plain and filling: hezha, a paste of ground soybeans boiled with greens, a Tujia home dish also known as 'lazy tofu'; Tujia cured pork, smoked until black and glossy, best stir-fried with garlic shoots; gege, pork or ribs steamed with rice meal in small bamboo baskets; kang potatoes, small potatoes pan-seared until crisp outside and soft within, dusted with chilli; and zhaguangjiao, chilli fermented with corn meal, which wakes up any dish it is cooked with. Enshi Yulu is the local tea, a steamed green, fine after dinner. After a day on the mountain paths, eat well and turn in early.