We had a fun day hiking a remote part of the Great Wall with a company called Beijing Hikers, but now jet lag is hitting me like a ton of bricks, so I’ll keep this short. Hiking along the wall itself wasn’t too bad, but getting up to and from the wall was very steep and challenging. Note to self: when a company tells you a hike is “strenuous,” believe them.
The wall was built over several dynasties at unspeakable human cost. While the towers were useful for signaling an attack, and while the top of the wall served as a kind of road in sections, the Great Wall did very little to keep unwanted people out. Hmm–a lesson for our current political leaders, perhaps?
Wow–I’ve never seen such ‘return to nature’ parts of the wall! Very beautiful.
The pictures are amazing! I got to visit in the summer of 1998. Though it was overcast that day, it was still very beautiful. You know who else was at the wall that summer, the Stanford Band. They’re
redwood tree mascot was running around. Weird!
Awesome! I loved our Great Wall hike with BJ hikers. A highlight of my trip for sure. We opted for the level 3 hike. What number was yours?
The hike was rated at a 3+, but climbing to the wall itself was rated a 4…and felt like it!