Hiking Distance: 9 kms/5 miles
Hours to Take: 4
Accommodation: Hostel at Jinshanling
Meals: Lunch and dinner
Water: Unlimited bottles
If you elect to spend the night camping, we'll be sure to wake up early to catch the sunrise over the Great Wall, so be sure to have your cameras ready!
The hiking today will cover about 10km/6miles. The Jiankou section is known for its ruggedness and wild beauty, and you will be in awe of the marvelous views it affords. Be sure to see the watchtower known as "Eagle on the peak," this tower is extraordinarily high. It forms the highest reaching point of the Jiankou section. It is the pinnacle of exotic Great Wall scenery.
From Jiankou, you will cross over onto Mutianyu, a section of the wall that has been largely restored. Although it has gotten a face-lift, it avoids the army of tourists that plague Badaling. The Mutianyu Great Wall has undulating hills and lush forests. The hills here are steep and curved, so it is very three-dimensional. The Mutianyu Great Wall has dense enemy buildings. Such a section of the Great Wall with an enemy building at about a hundred meters is rare. In the other sections of the Great Wall, crenellation walls were mostly built on one side, while the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall had crenellation walls on both sides. The crenellation walls were bunkers for the defenders to fight against the enemy. Two crenellation walls mean fighting with the enemy on both sides, which shows how important the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is in history.
You can hike down to the parking lot, take a cable car, or take a toboggan ride (highly recommended, and lots of fun!) down to meet our driver, who will drive us to our inn for the night. Tonight, we'll overnight in a village called Huanghuacheng Village. We'll stay in a "farmotel" called "Good Fortune Restaurants & Lodge."