D1: Gubeikou-Jinshanling
The driver and the guide will meet you at your hotel around 8:30 am and then we drive to Gubeikou section of Great Wall. It will take us about two and half hours to get to a village at the foot of the Great Wall at Gubeikou.
Gubeikou is also the name of the town here, with a long history of over 1,500 years. It served as the northern gate of Beijing in ancient times. Therefore a lot of wars happened in this area when minority groups from the northern part of China tried to conquer Beijing in history. Most parts of today’s Gubeikou Great Wall are still very well preserved, despite a long history. This part of wall was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368AD-1644AD) to defend the capital city of Beijing from the Mongolians living in the north.
Today we are going to hike for totally about 5 hours. We will first walk from the village up to the Great Wall, which takes about 20 minutes and which is quite easy. After getting to the wall, we will hike to the direction of Jinshanling. You will see a lot of watchtowers on the wall which winds like a long snake to the east. A few towers have been repaired in recent years, equipped with lightening rods, in order to protect them from thunderstorms in summer time. Of all the towers here, the most famous one is the 24-eye Tower, which is the biggest one and was originally built with 24 windows, hence the name. Today there are only 16 of them left and we will take a short rest as well as have a picnic lunch at the 24-eye Tower.
After lunch we need to walk down to the bottom of the mountains instead of continuing to trek on the Great Wall because the front area is used by the army and is not open to visitors. During the next one and half hours, we will walk on the mountain path, go through the trees, and pass the corn fields before we return to the wall in the end.
Then we arrive at Jinshanling area, which has been being restored ever since early 1980s. From Jinshanling we will get off the wall and go to the parking lot to meet the driver.
Then we drive for about two hours to Jiankou. Today we stay overnight at a hotel in the countryside near Jiankou.
D2: Jiankou-Mutianyu
After breakfast we drive to a village near Jiankou Great Wall. It takes about half an hour and we will drive on the winding mountain road. You will be amazed by the views on your two sides and you will see the real and beautiful countryside of north China.
From the village at the bottom of the Great Wall it takes about one hour to get to the top, which has a height of about 1,000 meters (3000feet) above sea level. Zhengbeilou, which is the name of the tower at the top, is a nice place to take photos of the view. You will see the authentic and wild wall constructed on the curvaceous and breathtaking mountain ridges. It is hard to imagine how much hard work and efforts it took the ancient Chinese people to build this part of wall.
From Zhengbeilou we are going to hike to Mutianyu section of Great Wall and it takes about two hours, during which you will trek on the old and original wall where numerous trees and plants are scattered around because of a long history and no restoration during the past 300 years. There are also lots of wild fruit trees growing on the two sides in the mountains, such as chestnut, walnut and apple trees, which attract a lot of squirrels. If you are lucky enough, you can see some squirrels looking for food on the Great wall.
When arriving at Mutianyu section, the view is totally different. First of all, this part has been renovated and it is much easier to walk here compared with the last part. Secondly you are already on the highest part of Mutianyu and during the rest of the hiking you will walk always down. In the end you have the option of walking, taking the cable car or the toboggan down to the parking lot of Mutianyu. Taking toboggan is a lot of fun and therefore is strongly recommended. After meeting the driver we go directly back to your hotel in Beijing.
