Sonja's Hiking Journey along Mutianyu Great Wall in Nov 2011 - 0 views
started by Easytourchina com on 26 Dec 11
started by Easytourchina com on 26 Dec 11
started by Easytourchina com on 26 Dec 11
started by Easytourchina com on 26 Dec 11
After seeing the touristy & crowded Badaling Great Wall section, Mutianyu Great wall section becomes my favorite sections of the Great Wall in Beijing. It is around 85km from city Beijing, featuring beautiful natural landscape with dense wooded; the wall itself is original and well-preserved.
We planned to walk up the great wall along the stone steps, which would take around 40 minutes hiking while the plan has changed to cable car due to time limited. So we take a cable car up to the 14th watch tower (besides cable car, there’s a chairlift to the 6th watch tower.)
There are 20 towers on the Mutianyu Great Wall that stretching around 2.5km, which is distributed in short intervals. The 20 watch towers are numbered from right to left, with the 20th the highest point.
Even we have short time there, we still have at least 1.5 hours to hike up and down. And I decide to walk from the 14th watch towers to the 20th one. The top of the great wall is wide and flat, with some steep steps occasion. There are few tourists on the wall and I took some people-free photos at ease.
The weather is cold in later November of Beijing, and I wore a hat, glove as well as wind-proof coat to keep myself warm. But after a short period of walking, I felt warm and indulged myself in the empty wall.
Sometimes, other hikers just surpassed me but I kept on a slow pace.
The pine & cypress trees are still green leaves while most other plants were standing naked.
The whole walking itinerary is moderate, except the last sheer steps leaded to the 20th watch tower. I also encountered old hikers who planned to walk to the Gubeikou great wall section from Mutianyu wall. Sure, if you have enough time, that’s possible since Mutianyu great, wall links Juyongguan Pass to the east and Gubeikou to the east.
It takes lesser time back to the 14th watch tower and cable car, since I spent shorter time on road.