Great Wall of China - Jinshanling

Hiking along the Great Wall of China has always been a part of my bucket list, things to do before I die, so it was extremely exciting for me to be able to actually do it.

We picked the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall for several reasons:
1. It was 2 hours from Beijing, so it cut down on the volume of visitors
2. There were some ruined parts along the path
3. It's one of the oldest parts of the Great Wall of China

There are many more pictures and I will put them on DropBox. Let me know if you want to see them as well and I will send you the link.


Map of the Jinshanling Great Wall, along with a welcome mural in marble depicting the history of this section.

 

Along the great wall, there are many tunnels, watchtowers, stairs, and little hideaways. Matt looks like a giant in the doorway!

 

The more renovated parts of the section:

 

This part of the great wall is NOT FLAT. Very curvy as it follows the top edge of the mountain.  Here are pics from several points along the hike.

 

Matt and I at one of the watchtowers: 

 

 

The exterior side of the wall:

 

The remains of a watchtower:

 

Very steep part of the section. The slope was ridiculous. Notice how the walls are missing on both sides! Scary, as it is a long way down the mountain and it was a breezy day.

 

This is a far shot of what we climbed. See how steep it was!!!

 



 On the way down, we decided to take a cable car:

 

And then relax a little before our bus ride home with a couple cans of beer. Well deserved!!