—————  Blog written by  our guest  Gerale

Back in the days when, if you had talent and influence, you appointed yourself project leader, General Su had a vision for a section of the Great Wall. It was designed and built to set an example to all other areas. Today, this defiantly intact, majestic structure testifies to the quality of the design and workmanship. It was grander and wider, harder to scale and more daunting to any prospective invaders from the North. Undulating across the hilly landscape it remains unashamedly photogenic. And, apart from your fellow Dandelion Hikers, there’s not a soul around. Where the wall has crumbled, it has been through the interference of humans. Were the towers still in place, this would be a contender for mass tourism.

It’s that beautiful.

But those towers were systematically dismantled during the Cultural Revolution. To complete this section of the wall we didn’t need too much talent or influence. The initial ascent was steep – and we were grateful for the energizing lunch Heidi and Fred had organized for us in a local village, but we were quickly on the wall and rewarded with stunning views. Grateful for our decent footwear and reserves of water on this sunny day, we followed the wall’s course in a westerly direction for another hour or so, until we reached an impressive, flat section. We pitched our makeshift base camp for the night – a vantage point from which we could admire the sunset, moon rising and stars. Apart from the odd hoot from nocturnal birds of prey and the wind there was no other sound to be heard. There was the general feeling we were a million miles away from the big city.

Far from being a military operation Dandelion Hiking’s Heidi and Fred guided us through the General Su section with sensitivity and flexibility. Nobody felt rushed and there were frequent breaks to admire the work of dozens of farming generations, who had carved terraces for the cultivation of apricot seeds, dates and apples. Heidi’s enthusiasm for the land, flora and fauna and Fred’s affable personality (he seemed to be interested and knowledgeable about any topic you cared to bring up) made for stimulating company as we perched on the wall and raised a glass of Great Wall wine to toast General Su at the end of a massively rewarding day. Definitely not to be missed.

Great wall Camping in Beijing

August has been a great month for hiking and camping on the great wall. The heat and humidity made us lose a lot of build up winter fat and we became fitter than ever. We explored new places on Zhenbianchen great wall and discovered new valleys with smiling farmers on Gubeiko great wall. Heidi took cooked exellent chinese lunches and I did what I m best in “bbq roasted beijing duck with and serve great wall wine” on top of the wild great wall.

We are always happy to show people our favourte spots on Beijing’s great wall. On most of our trips we didn,t see any body at all. Except maybe a farmer collecting herbs on top of the mountain or some local hikers who dont want to see tourist parts of the great wall.
I sometimes ask myself the question why everybody goes to Badalin, simatai or muntianyu. But before I can even think of the answer, a smile comes on my face and realize that is such a good thing that all tourists go there leaving the real gems all for us.
Befor Juli we were doing more 1 day hiking trips to the great wall. Which is good but definitely not as good camping. To reach the great wall (no matter what section) it takes at least 1,5 hours by local or private transportation. So a return trip takes for sure 4 hours which means on a one day trip you spend more time on transportation than actually hiking on the great wall. That’s why we thought lets just go always camping. This way we have relaxed time on the wall, out of the bustling metropolitan. Now we are just taking small groups camping, letting everybody absorb the beautiful surroundings and watch the sun rise and set with a glass of wine and new friends.

Now august has passed and perfect september weather has arrived in Beijing. While the collours will be slowly changing from green to yellow september will all about multiple days hiking and camping on the great wall. Cooler weather does not only mean more comfortable great wall hiking but also that the season for a good desert hike is cloosing in. In october we will go for a 6 day adventure in the Badajilin desert. Including a 3 day hike trough the sand dunes, camel rides and jeep rides to some of the desert most beautiful oasis and temples. A true china higlight!

hiking camping around Beijing

Great wall Camping in Beijing

August has been a great month for hiking and camping on the great wall. The heat and humidity made us lose a lot of build up winter fat and we became fitter than ever. We explored new places on Zhenbianchen great wall and discovered new valleys with smiling farmers on Gubeiko great wall. Heidi took cooked exellent chinese lunches and I did what I m best in “bbq roasted beijing duck with and serve great wall wine” on top of the wild great wall.

We are always happy to show people our favourte spots on Beijing’s great wall. On most of our trips we didn,t see any body at all. Except maybe a farmer collecting herbs on top of the mountain or some local hikers who dont want to see tourist parts of the great wall.
I sometimes ask myself the question why everybody goes to Badalin, simatai or muntianyu. But before I can even think of the answer, a smile comes on my face and realize that is such a good thing that all tourists go there leaving the real gems all for us.
Befor Juli we were doing more 1 day hiking trips to the great wall. Which is good but definitely not as good camping. To reach the great wall (no matter what section) it takes at least 1,5 hours by local or private transportation. So a return trip takes for sure 4 hours which means on a one day trip you spend more time on transportation than actually hiking on the great wall. That’s why we thought lets just go always camping. This way we have relaxed time on the wall, out of the bustling metropolitan. Now we are just taking small groups camping, letting everybody absorb the beautiful surroundings and watch the sun rise and set with a glass of wine and new friends.

Now august has passed and perfect september weather has arrived in Beijing. While the collours will be slowly changing from green to yellow september will all about multiple days hiking and camping on the great wall. Cooler weather does not only mean more comfortable great wall hiking but also that the season for a good desert hike is cloosing in. In october we will go for a 6 day adventure in the Badajilin desert. Including a 3 day hike trough the sand dunes, camel rides and jeep rides to some of the desert most beautiful oasis and temples. A true china higlight!

hiking camping around Beijing

hiking beijing

Great wall hiking in Beijing can be done in different ways. This great wall hike & hot spring combinations is one of my favorites ones.

Hengling village, where our hike starts is about 200km from Beijing. The village itself doesn’t look very important now, but in the Ming Dynasty it was a double walled defense village in a valley that was called the northern gate to Beijing. Numerous attack where executed here by the Mongols. For this reason the Chinese army ordered General Xu to build an extra strong wall in this area. Xu was known for his engineering and made this wall as an example of how other parts of the Beijing great wall  should be build. Even  today, this great wall still stands as strong as as it did 600 years ago

From Hengling village we follow the Great Wall for a while till we reach an old classic farmer village. It’s quit a magic place surrounded by great mountains and Great Wall.  Only a few families live in this Ming dynasty village.  We had healthy lunch at the village, a little chat with an old lady and her grand daughter and watched a 76 year old farmer taking care of is apple trees.

After lunch we headed straight for the mountains. At the highest point of this area(1350 meter) we had a fabulous view of the great wall winding over the ridges of mountains that surrounded us. From here it was only a 30 minute hike to one of the strongest parts of great wall around Beijing. Once on top of this great wall everybody us always amazed by the magic of this place, Heidi and me included.

Taking pictures on the way we follow the great wall for a couple km before going down in the valley and trough the orchards. At the end of this valley our driver is waiting for us with his usual smile, ready to drive us to our reward ” A top notch natural hot spring”.

And this is way this is one of my favorite trips. What is better than relax in hot spring and have a foot massage after an 18km hike on some superb great wall with great scenery and not one other tourist! Nothing can beat this I guess.

This location is called General Xu Great wall.  General Xu became famous for the Yangbien great wall as an example of how all parts of the great wall in Beijing should be build. Most  towers of this great wall have been destroyed during the cultural revolution but the mighty Yangbien great wall still stands very robust in a magnificent scenery.  Weather conditions on this trip where just perfect. Have a look at what probably will go in to our top great wall camping trips of this year.

Our great wall trek went trough orchards and past a picturesque mountain village close to wall.

After 10 km hiking trough the mountain we arrived at the mighty Yangbien great wall.

As the sun went down the fog came up and started flowing over the mountain ridges like a magic potion.

By the time the sun set we pitched our tents and just enjoyed the surreal scenery.

And of course no camping trip is complete without dinner at a campfire.

No big effort needed to take an early morning picture 😉

And there we have early bird number 2&3

If you d like to join this trip…. have a look at our China hiking agenda to find when our next hike to general xu great wall is going.

We are already looking forward to guide you!

Heidi & Fred

To give you the best Great Wall hiking and Camping trip in Beijing Chinahiking keeps Exploring as much as possible.

There is 630km of Great Wall in Beijing and Chinahiking has explored almost every section but there are always new parts of Great Wall to explore. For this hike we tried out new valleys to enter and exit and what an experience that gave us.  When trying to reach the Yangbien Great Wall you have to be pretty care full as the valley’s that reach towards it are long and confusing. One wrong turn on a little road and you end up on a totally other mountain range than you intended. And even if you take the right trail it might just suddenly stop and this was exactely what happen on this Great Wall exploring trip.

The valley we entered was beautiful like a fairy tale. It was a clear spring day so we were walking trough orchards of white and pink flowers untill… the trail ended.

An ending of a trail never means ending of exploring but the start of adventure.  We made our way trough bush and dry leaves and often had to climb on hands and feet over steep mountain flanks.  It was hard… very hard work. With only 30 minutes before sunset we still hadn’t reached the great wall. Our gps told us that we had to climb no more than 30 meters to reach the top of the mountain so the confidence was still there.  Slowly but surely we made our way up the mountain and soon we got bricks of the Great Wall in sight. At that point we had been climbing that mountain for about 6 hours but no steep hill with dense thorny bush could keep us from reaching our destination ‘one of the most beautiful great wall parts in Beijing”

No victory tastes as sweet as the victory you had to work and suffer for and this victory was very sweet. We reached the Great Wall at it’s highest point of the area  1300m above sea level.The view was so amazing. The wild great wall lingering over the mountain ridges as far as we could see, Just amazing. We  pitched our tents on nice flat piece of grass and watched the sun painting an orange glow on the Great Wall as it slid behind the mountains.  A simple dinner and bit of scotch prepared us for a deep sleep on the Great Wall hiking in beijing

Next day the birds woke us up and rays of sunlight started warming up the fresh mountain air. Waking up in a scenery like is really refreshing when you’re living in the heart of Beijing.

In no time we were up for day 2 of our great wall trek.  This day was just easy enjoyment as we did all the climbing the day before. About 5km downhill hiking on top of the wall passing tower after tower, valley after valley until the wall touched the valley.

It was only a short walk trough the fields before we saw our faithful driver waiving. We reached civilisation again, had a great adventure, a camera full of pictures and a new part of the  Great Wall.If you d like to hike this part of the Wall (without the heavy climb in the start) than check our webiste www.chinahiking.cn and look for the Great Wall camping trip ” Border Defence great wall to General Xu Great Wall”  Trough this hike we found the connection and the best valleys to take (and not to take) for a great 2 day camping trip on the Yangbian Great Wall.  Have a look at more pictures of this trip on this link