I don't know if anyone goes to Beijing without seeing the Great Wall, but we weren't going to be one of them. In order to get there, first we had to figure out which section of it we wanted to go to or if we wanted to hike from one section to the next and how we would get there, with a tour or public transportation. Not so simple!
We had some recommendations and tips from our lonely planet guide, blogs, and roommates at our hostel. Our hostel offered two package tours as well- one to Mutainyu and another to Jinshanling. After having to enter into a Chinese mosh pit in order see the dragon throne at the forbidden city, We liked the idea of going to a section that would be less touristy and have less crowds. And initially we thought that meant having to go to a further section that was partially or completely unrestored. Jinshanling seemed like an attractive non touristy option because other non restored sections seemed to have precarious cliffs and conditions. And it was easier to get to than some o the other options, although it would sill be a challenging hike. Our roommate went to Mutainyu and informed a that weren't that many tourists when he went so that was our second option.
First we decided that while the tours at our hotel had great prices and were attractive because they do everything for you, we would do public transportation because we don't like feelin rushed and with the tours you only get three hours on the wall.
The night before we were going back and forth about which site to go to when we decided to run to the store. Upon standing up every bone in our bodies cried out for mercy. We looked at each other and decided we would give our bodies a break, "take it easy," and go with the "less challenging" option Mutainyu.
Ha! It was definitely no tongariro, but it was no walk in the park either! If we had really wanted to give our bodies a break we should have taken one of the cable carries offered at this section- but we were convinced we were super hikers after all that we had done on nz and japan so we hiked to the wall plus 2.5 hours of hiking as far as we could.
Before all this though we had to get to the base of Mutainyu. We started out at 7am from the hotel and pretty much followed lonely planets directions to get there. It was pretty straight forward- bus 916 to Hairou, and then a collective van to the base. It was pretty straightforward except for the competition between the van drivers who almost got in a fight over who we would go with.
Once at the visitors center, We found out everyone has to take a shuttle up to a higher base point. The entrance ticket to the wall was 45 RMB and the shuttle ticket was 15 RMB. We took the shuttle and then started the hike up to the wall. That took about 20 minutes alone, pure stairs. By the time we got to the entrance to the actual wall it was 11am.
We started out at watchtower 8 and slowly made our way up up up...
After a long ascent upward, towards tower 23, We got to a tower where we could see that the Great Wall continued but there was a small wall built to keep people from goon further. We are not sure if this was tower 23 or not but there was restored parts of the wall continuing on so we jumped the wall as various others were doing to continue on and see what was beyond. This was the best portion of the whole hike.
Before we decided to turn around and make our way back to the shuttle we rested on the steps, breathing, and soaking in the view, the history of the place we were standing on, and our journey to get there.
The climb back down was not too eventful although must faster than the ascent.
Overall we definitely like this section of the wall. It was not as touristy as we thought- there were quite a bit of tourists but it wasn't unbearable like the forbidden city and there are few to none the farther you get from the entrance point. It was also a good choice because you could experience restored and unrestored portions of the wall. Plus it is fairly easy to get to on public transportation if you don't like the time constraints of tours and don't want to pay a private taxi to take you. In the end Mutainyu was challenging for us- perhaps we could have done Jinshanling with no problem . As we have had to say a lot Of times on the trip, "we'll save it for next time."
We had some recommendations and tips from our lonely planet guide, blogs, and roommates at our hostel. Our hostel offered two package tours as well- one to Mutainyu and another to Jinshanling. After having to enter into a Chinese mosh pit in order see the dragon throne at the forbidden city, We liked the idea of going to a section that would be less touristy and have less crowds. And initially we thought that meant having to go to a further section that was partially or completely unrestored. Jinshanling seemed like an attractive non touristy option because other non restored sections seemed to have precarious cliffs and conditions. And it was easier to get to than some o the other options, although it would sill be a challenging hike. Our roommate went to Mutainyu and informed a that weren't that many tourists when he went so that was our second option.
First we decided that while the tours at our hotel had great prices and were attractive because they do everything for you, we would do public transportation because we don't like feelin rushed and with the tours you only get three hours on the wall.
The night before we were going back and forth about which site to go to when we decided to run to the store. Upon standing up every bone in our bodies cried out for mercy. We looked at each other and decided we would give our bodies a break, "take it easy," and go with the "less challenging" option Mutainyu.
Ha! It was definitely no tongariro, but it was no walk in the park either! If we had really wanted to give our bodies a break we should have taken one of the cable carries offered at this section- but we were convinced we were super hikers after all that we had done on nz and japan so we hiked to the wall plus 2.5 hours of hiking as far as we could.
Before all this though we had to get to the base of Mutainyu. We started out at 7am from the hotel and pretty much followed lonely planets directions to get there. It was pretty straight forward- bus 916 to Hairou, and then a collective van to the base. It was pretty straightforward except for the competition between the van drivers who almost got in a fight over who we would go with.
Once at the visitors center, We found out everyone has to take a shuttle up to a higher base point. The entrance ticket to the wall was 45 RMB and the shuttle ticket was 15 RMB. We took the shuttle and then started the hike up to the wall. That took about 20 minutes alone, pure stairs. By the time we got to the entrance to the actual wall it was 11am.
We started out at watchtower 8 and slowly made our way up up up...
After a long ascent upward, towards tower 23, We got to a tower where we could see that the Great Wall continued but there was a small wall built to keep people from goon further. We are not sure if this was tower 23 or not but there was restored parts of the wall continuing on so we jumped the wall as various others were doing to continue on and see what was beyond. This was the best portion of the whole hike.
There were Very few people, even more amazing views as you hike even higher, peace and quiet, we started to notice a little more wildlife-geckos and butterflies- and we eventually got to some men selling snacks and some trees filled with red ribbons tied to them. There was a tower and a door leading on to the unrestored section of the wall- meaning it was not paved with stones just dirt and shrubbery and there weren't any walls built up as a barrier to keep you from falling. In some areas you could see there was some sort of a landslide and a whole portion of one side of the walls had slid down into rubble.
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| Julio on the unrestored Great Wall. |
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| what looked like a landslide on the unrestored section of the wall. |
Before we decided to turn around and make our way back to the shuttle we rested on the steps, breathing, and soaking in the view, the history of the place we were standing on, and our journey to get there.
The climb back down was not too eventful although must faster than the ascent.
Overall we definitely like this section of the wall. It was not as touristy as we thought- there were quite a bit of tourists but it wasn't unbearable like the forbidden city and there are few to none the farther you get from the entrance point. It was also a good choice because you could experience restored and unrestored portions of the wall. Plus it is fairly easy to get to on public transportation if you don't like the time constraints of tours and don't want to pay a private taxi to take you. In the end Mutainyu was challenging for us- perhaps we could have done Jinshanling with no problem . As we have had to say a lot Of times on the trip, "we'll save it for next time."
Wow, great job ~ you did it! And oh my goodness, what fabulous photos!
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