Walking the Great Wall of China

Walking the Great Wall of China
bobby_7 Jun 19, 2014 05:57

Nobody ever mentions how steep the Great Wall of China is. You hear a lot about its age and its length, but the sheer vertical drop? Not so much. It doesn't look all that intimidating from the pictures, either, flanked by red-gold foliage or dusted with snow, lazily weaving in and out of view along the rolling peaks of China's northern frontier. When people talk about it, they usually throw around words like "majestic" and "awe-inspiring" and "impressive." Somehow they always forget to say "steep."

 

But for me, as I stare up from the base of a 4,000-step stairway at the outset of my six-day trek with active-travel outfitter G Adventures, "steep" is the first word that comes to mind. I'm barely out of the parking lot at the wall's Mutianyu section—my hiking boots laced tight and a heavy daypack weighing me down—before I'm faced with that sky-high stairway. Which is when it hits me: Those 4,000 steps serve no other purpose than to deliver me to the lowest possible entry point for my six-day walk along the Great Wall.

 

There's a gondola that could take me and the 13 other hikers in my group to one of Mutianyu's 22 fortified square watchtowers, where many day-trippers begin and end their visits. But we came all this way to walk as much of the wall with our own two feet as we can, not to coast gently above it. So I take my first step and then my second, and then another and another until I eventually find myself in a pleasant, heart-pumping rhythm.

 

At first there's not much to see. The stone steps are wide but heavily shaded by leafy trees, and I mostly just pass other travelers and wizened old buskers hawking Great Wall tchotchkes along the way to the main attraction. Then, maybe three-quarters of the way up, I come around a bend and catch my first glimpse of the wall up close.

 

It's a monstrous thing, this ancient structure: rugged and relentless, snaking along the historical border between China and Mongolia like some massive mythical dragon made real from brick and stone. It clings to the high green peaks of the borderland at jaw-dropping angles, and it just goes on and on forever into the hazy distance. Steep? It's about as vertical as you can imagine—in some places the well-worn steps rise 80 degrees skyward.

 

But in that moment when I first see the Great Wall up close, I understand why everyone forgets to mention its vertigo-inducing heights. In person, the sheer scale of it makes everything else an afterthought.

 

Walking the Great Wall of China

My six-day trek with G Adventures makes a rough circuit around the parts of the wall near the former imperial capital and tombs, taking in the MutianyuJiankouGubeikouJinshanling, andHuangyaguan sections, along with a brief exploration of Simatai, much of which is still closed for renovation.

 

Each area of the wall is a little bit different. Some are fully restored and teeming with tourists. Others are crumbling ruins swallowed whole by the forest, gloriously free of crowds and opportunistic vendors. I was drawn to this trek by the chance to explore parts of the Great Wall that many tourists never get to see, so not surprisingly I most enjoy the days when I can count the other travelers I meet on one hand.

 

On some days, we pass through fields of corn and cotton, where entire swaths of farmland are covered with makeshift scarecrows meant to fend off mountain chickens. Sometimes we walk on top of the wall for miles at a time, eye level with eagles; other times we walk in its shadow, glancing up now and then to remind ourselves that soon we'll be back on it. We pass ruined farmhouses and dense patches of wildflowers and high mountain ridges where the wall and the forest have become one.

 

Most nights, our accommodations are simple guesthouses in villages where farmers have lived in the shadow of the wall for generations beyond memory. We never take any shortcuts to reach the trail—no gondolas or chairlifts when sturdy hiking boots will get the job done. Reaching the wall each day requires a strenuous climb, sometimes on stone steps like at Mutianyu, but more often on simple dirt paths carved out of the thick forest growth.

 

There aren't any handrails or trinket sellers along the way on those days. Sometimes the closest we come to civilization is a warning sign informing us that the area is closed to the public. (Our G Adventures group has a special permit that allows us entry in these areas.) The hiking is different on the most broken-down sections of the wall. The terrain is rougher, the massive walls crumbling, and the whole structure appears ready to collapse in upon itself.

 

It's these unrestored and uncrowded areas that offer up the Great Wall of China in all its raw beauty. It was awesome. I never gonna forget even a moment of Great Wall of China. :)

Tags:Travel

5 Comments

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Mixal

Yeah, I've also walked the Badaling section only. I'm looking forward to visiting those wild areas.

Jul 26, 2014 07:13 Report Abuse

Ava11

Well said!!! Even I found it too steep and difficult to climb. Kudos to you for trekking the whole wall. We just went to the Badaling section of the wall.

Jun 29, 2014 21:04 Report Abuse

Alizey

your adventure inspire me a lot. you give much information about great wall of china. i had seen pics but your details make me to go there in <a href=''http://www.getbustours.com/chinese-bus-tours/''>chinese tour bus</a> and visit its whole area.thank you so much

Jun 28, 2014 12:58 Report Abuse

Laowei

Pics..... or it didn't happen.

Jun 21, 2014 08:36 Report Abuse

Guest2477972

Well bro thank you, at least you read :)

Jun 24, 2014 21:26 Report Abuse