Hello, Walls: Steps Along Mutianyu, Jinshanling, and Jiankou

"He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man." Mao Zedong

It took me three years in China to write something about visiting the Great Wall, and another year to share it.  I HAVE made the iconic journey, however (I guess Mao now thinks I'm a man?), so let me share with you a few of my musings on the three sections I've visited: 慕田峪 (Mutianyu), 金山岭 (Jinshanling), and 箭扣 (Jiankou).  

First, some Great Wall facts for you:  The Great Wall, in Chinese, is 万里长城 (Wanli Changcheng, often shortened to "Changcheng"). Its first stones were set during the Qin dynasty over 2000 years ago (ordered by the same emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who commissioned the Terracotta Soldiers in Xi'an), and it was heavily reinforced during the Ming dynasty several centuries later, creating the look with which we are most familiar today. The cost in time, resources, and human lives was as steep as some of the slopes.  

The Wall is NOT one long stone snake across the north of China, as we often absentmindedly picture.  Nor can it be seen from space.  Rather, it exists in pieces across what once was the nation's border, from 嘉峪关 (Jiayuguan) in the far west on the Silk Road, to several scattered remnants north of Beijing, the modern capital in the east.  The Wall, of course, was for defense - a.k.a., keeping out foreign barbarians such as myself and my kind.  However, all walls throughout history have failed eventually, and we (and many others, of course) got on, over, and in without much trouble.

慕田峪 Mutianyu

In August of 2013, Todd came to visit me in China and, as a good big sister, I took him to see the Wall.  Even at that point, I'd learned enough to avoid the beautiful-but-overcrowded-with-tourists-and-hawkers section of 八达岭 (Badaling), close to Beijing.  So, for the sake of ease, we booked the day trip through our hostel, City Walls Courtyard, to Mutianyu.  It's a restored section (and I've always had mixed feelings about restoration, leaning towards being against it), but less overrun with people and other obnoxious distractions.  Mutianyu is three kilometers long, with 26 watchtowers.  Todd and I were extremely lazy and took the cable car up, which allowed us to appreciate the impressive views of grey and green without falling down the side of a mountain (Peru was still fresh in our minds).  

We walked a considerable distance in both directions along the Wall, which was just like all the pictures everyone has seen, and rather stunning.  We celebrated the great photos with chocolate and beer.  Still, further in the distance, I could see what looked like ruins, though it was too far to make it there during our allotted time - later research told me this was most likely Jiankou, and I bookmarked it for a future trip (I have a thing for ruins).  The highlight of Mutianyu, I'm only semiembarrassed to say, was the toboggan ride down - Todd and I clambered on to little metal cars, behind a man with a full kettle of tea (he has his priorities straight) and slid down the track from just below the Great Wall to the base of the mountain upon which it was perched.  It was great fun!

Two years later, I was back in Beijing with Melody.  I had great intentions of doing two big hikes - 10 kilometers from Jinshanling to 司马台 (Simatai), and then from Jiankou to 黄花 (Huanghua), possibly even camping on the Wall - but nothing in China works out as expected, which only adds to the adventure, really.  Simatai is under restoration (ugh...I'm too late!) and Huanghua just didn't seem to be accessible (supposedly one can access these points by public transportation, but I tried and failed) so ultimately we booked a day hike on Jinshanling through our hostel, Qianmen Hostel, and a day hike on Jiankou through Beijing Hikers.  Both turned out to be excellent days.

金山岭 Jinshanling

Jinshanling is a partially restored section of the Great Wall about 90km north of Beijing, and we hiked about 7km of it.  At one point, it was possible to connect with Simatai, which is still visible at the end; however, it has apparently been closed for the past several years and will be reopened once restored.  Still, Jinshanling itself was gorgeous, and not overrun with people at all.  (I took some great photos with hardly anyone in them, though at one point we did pass by professional wedding photography.)  We were blessed with fantastic weather - hot, but sunny and bright with blue skies, making the trees covering the mountains vivid green and the Wall practically glow as it snaked over undulating hills.  

Parts of Jinshanling are rather steep - sometimes, instead of stairs, sheer rock slid beneath my shoes, practically making me horizontal, and I felt I could reach out and touch (or talk to) the floor of the wall right in front of my face.  It made it hard to imagine soldiers of yore getting their living and military supplies up there without sliding back down.  (There are still a fair number of uneven stairs - this is China, after all.)  Needless to say, this section of the Wall provides visitors with a pretty good workout - lots of up and down between watchtowers.  It is supposedly possible to camp in some of these watchtowers, which would be amazing, but it wasn't possible this time around, unfortunately.  Still, we went though a good number of them to explore, both crumbling and intact.  With missing bricks and stones tumbling over the side of the ridge, these collapsed sections had a much more authentic feel than the others.  

箭扣 Jiankou

As noted above, I have a thing for ruins.  Thus, as anticipated, Jiankou was by far my favorite part of the Great Wall.  While it was never lost and therefore couldn't be found, it is the Miss Havisham's house of eastern China.  It doesn't look like what one first thinks of when hearing about the Wall at all.  Particularly un-intact, it's first necessary to undertake a hike through dense forest for about an hour before even reaching the Wall (we did this in the rain).  

The first steps on the Wall aren't even recognizable, but soon a clearing reveals a thin line of grey rubble in the distance, and the Wall begins to emerge mysteriously from the mist.  It's a bit of a treacherous climb on this section - stones are loose or missing (having rolled down the mountain during an earthquake or the Japanese invasion), parts of the path are thin lines of rock on land bridges between mountains, and there are no guardrails or other people - luckily, we were followed closely by our guide, Simon, as I haven't forgotten the mule falling to its death in the Andes.

Still, the scenery was spectacular.  Although it was a rainy day, the rain stopped when we reached the Wall, and we were rewarded with views of mountain ridges, rolling clouds, and ribbons of gloriously unrestored, original Wall ahead of us.  My favorite parts of the Jiankou section were the parts of the Wall being swallowed from the inside by trees, leaving thin trails of path between the edges of the brush and the edges of the Wall, making the intrepid explorer feel as if he/she is wandering through a ruined castle.  The guardhouses here certainly seem like something from a fairy tale, these days.  It was better than the Secret Garden.  While we luckily didn't pass other hikers until the trek down the mountain, if we could have lingered (which we didn't, due to approaching thunderstorms), I'm certain we would have met some ghosts.

It could have been a painters dream.  It was just the section of the Wall I wanted to see.  And we could see all the way to Mutianyu.

Nearly all hostel trips and reliable company tours to the Great Wall involve a two-hour bus ride on either end and a big lunch afterwards (that's rather unavoidable, but not worth writing much about) but horror stories abound of overpriced rip-offs and shopping excursions, so if you're planning a trek of your own, do sufficient research beforehand.  I've been lucky enough not to have to fight with that.

Further trips around China might take me (or you!) to Simatai, Huanghua, 古北口(Gubeikou), or a handful of others.  Hurry up before the rest of it gets restored and all but the most touristy sections are used for free local building material!  (The latter was also Mao's idea.  He wasn't into historical preservation.)