We woke up bright and early on Monday to hike the Great Wall on an arranged tour with a few different hostels. We took a bus a few hours out of the city but did not escape the smog like we were hoping to. We opted to take the less touristy tour of the Great Wall from Jinshaling to Simatai (and not Badaling where most people go). Annnnnd we soon figured out why most people go where they go.
Our hike was 6 km (3+ miles) up and down and up and down and up and down. Of course we had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into at the beginning when we were given the option to take a cable car up to the wall (and save 40 minutes) or climb stairs up to the wall--we chose the stairs. In retrospect, we probably should've taken the cable car up because I could've used that 40 minutes later into the hike. Here is us at the start--you can see part of the wall stretching out in the background (we climbed 23 towers in all).
It was a strenuous hike to say the least. I think it would've been much bearable without the hot weather. The entire climb I had alternating waves of awe, heat stroke, and a little bit of vertigo. There were several parts where there were no sides to the wall (this is the less reconstructed section of the wall) and I was slightly afraid I'd fall off. As Court noted, in the US there would definitely be many safety rails and signs! We just had local hawkers (yes they follow behind you as you walk trying to get you to buy water or trinkets) telling us what number tower we were on and how many we had left to go (usually they contradicted one another).
Despite the heat and sweat, it was breathtaking to turn around and see the Great Wall snaking behind in the distance (not as much so seeing it snake in front of us). Every so often we'd pause and say "We're on the Great Wall of China!" We also kept up with a group of athletic and jolly midwesterners for a large portion of the hike which helped a lot--mainly because one guy had a baby carrier on. I figured if he could do it with a small child, I should be able to do it by myself! Here are 9 of the 23 towers we climbed:
We obviously made it considering I'm typing this post, buuuut this post is a day late because we were recovering last night (and went to bed at 8 pm). I got a little sick from heat exhaustion once we reached the end and the nicest little old lady kept bringing me cold water to cool down. Like I said, I could've really used that 40 minutes!
Our hike was 6 km (3+ miles) up and down and up and down and up and down. Of course we had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into at the beginning when we were given the option to take a cable car up to the wall (and save 40 minutes) or climb stairs up to the wall--we chose the stairs. In retrospect, we probably should've taken the cable car up because I could've used that 40 minutes later into the hike. Here is us at the start--you can see part of the wall stretching out in the background (we climbed 23 towers in all).
It was a strenuous hike to say the least. I think it would've been much bearable without the hot weather. The entire climb I had alternating waves of awe, heat stroke, and a little bit of vertigo. There were several parts where there were no sides to the wall (this is the less reconstructed section of the wall) and I was slightly afraid I'd fall off. As Court noted, in the US there would definitely be many safety rails and signs! We just had local hawkers (yes they follow behind you as you walk trying to get you to buy water or trinkets) telling us what number tower we were on and how many we had left to go (usually they contradicted one another).
Despite the heat and sweat, it was breathtaking to turn around and see the Great Wall snaking behind in the distance (not as much so seeing it snake in front of us). Every so often we'd pause and say "We're on the Great Wall of China!" We also kept up with a group of athletic and jolly midwesterners for a large portion of the hike which helped a lot--mainly because one guy had a baby carrier on. I figured if he could do it with a small child, I should be able to do it by myself! Here are 9 of the 23 towers we climbed:
We obviously made it considering I'm typing this post, buuuut this post is a day late because we were recovering last night (and went to bed at 8 pm). I got a little sick from heat exhaustion once we reached the end and the nicest little old lady kept bringing me cold water to cool down. Like I said, I could've really used that 40 minutes!
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