Great Wall One-day Hike from Simatai West (Second Valley)
to Jinshanling
(followed by gourmet lunch)
TOUR
1AB:
Fascinating Variety in the Transition from Wild Wall to the
Rebuilt
Popularity Ranking: 
*Ranked by the quantity of signups of
all 1-day hiking routes.
* We now offer guided and self-guided
tours.
The Michael Jackson Immortal World Tour by the world
renowned Cirque du Soleil elected to go on
their very own Great Wall hiking in
August, 2013
Highlights
1. If you are looking for breathtaking
views with a relatively peaceful walk, then the Jinshanling-West
Simatai (Second Valley) Great Wall hike is perfect for you.
2. On this hike you will get the best of
both Great Wall worlds, both majestically restored wall, as well as
wild and dramatic unrestored "Wild Wall," making the hike much more
interesting than others.
3. This part of the Great Wall is the venue for the annual Great
Wall international marathons.
4. Pick-up and drop-off from your Beijing
hotel is included!
5.
Lunch
after the hike is provided with with country-style Chinese stir fry
and rice (also vegan-friendly).
6. You can just order our
professional private taxi service and tour by yourself. You save
and enjoy more privacy.
Please be advised that it is
recommended that you are in good physical condition to complete this
trek. Here is how one of our hikers described it:
“The wall here is virtually
unrestored, closed in some areas because it is too treacherous. But
first you have to get onto the wall. This involved an arduous hike.
Sets of stairs after stairs virtually straight up because, after
all, the wall is along the top of the mountain ridge. This was
probably the hardest part of the hike but the promise of what lay
ahead beckoned. We took about three hours in total to walk the
section of the wall. This was done at a leisurely pace with lots of
stops for photos. The ‘hardest’ part of the walk is getting to the
wall itself as there were a lot of stairs. For the most part the
walk on the wall was very easy however there are a few sets of very,
very steep stairs which you need to negotiate with care.”
However, according to that same
hiker, it was all worth it:
“It was an amazing, humbling day
that will stay with me for a very long time. It started as a tick
off my bucket list, a birthday present to myself, but became much
more. A journey into ancient history, a tribute to what man without
today's technology can build, and how that can endure over the
centuries. A physical and mental challenge. A great day!”
While other companies bus you from section to section, Great Wall
Adventure Club lets you personally experience the majesty of the
Great Wall by allowing you to physically pass from one section to
the next. In contrast to driving across, this lets you see the
differences between the restored, maintained, section on one side
and the radically different "wild wall" on the other.
Departure
Our Great Wall hiking is a
private service. What this means is that you can hike on the Great
Wall at any time at your convenience. If you
would much rather be part of a group for
the experience for economic and social reasons,
we'll check to see if there are more signups for the same date as
your own. We'll keep you updated whenever there are more. If you
would like to keep your tour a private one, please let us know and
we'll assign you a guide and driver.
Detailed Hiking Itinerary: (6 kms/4 miles
on the mountain, 3 hours
of hiking)
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 Your guide will meet you at
our hotel around 8:00 am, and by private minivan we
will head to the Great Wall at western Simatai to start
our hike.
While the eastern portion of
Simatai is closed permanently
for the fake Watertown at Gubeikou, the western section of the Simatai Great Wall is still open to hikers. The
Simatai Great Wall is
separated into eastern and western halves by a valley,
with a rainbow-like chain bridge over the valley. The
hills in the west are sloping gently, with 20
watchtowers remaining in good shape. The Simatai section
of the Great Wall is one of the few sections to retain
the original appearance of the Great Wall. Incorporating
a variety of characteristics of other sections of the
Great Wall, Simatai also
displays some unique features of its own. It is often
described with the following five words: perilous,
dense, diverse, artful, and peculiar.
Here’s how one of our
trekkers described first seeing Simatai:
“The wall snaking off in either direction as
far as the eye could see, the trail undulating up and
down along the crest of the mountain ridge. It stops you
in your tracks. It takes your breath away. Steep, narrow
trails up to watchtowers where guards in centuries past
would have watched for invaders, followed by very steep
and narrow steps down the other side. Some sections were
crumbly and we had to pick our way carefully down,
others where it was less steep were like steeply sloping
pathways of ancient brick.”
After about 90 minutes of
hiking we will eventually pass over into the
Jinshanling Great Wall.
The Great Wall at Jinshanling
is one of the best preserved parts of the Great Wall
with many original features. It got its name because it
was built on the Greater and Lesser Jinshan (‘Gold
Mountain’) Ranges. A tablet with the Chinese inscription
for Jinshanling Great Wall was set into this section.
The Jinshanling Great Wall has not been repaired since
1570. It is a remote and relatively isolated section of
the Great Wall. As there are relatively few tourists at
Jinshanling Great Wall, it is a good place to explore on
foot. The Jinshanling Great Wall was initially built
from 1368 to 1389 in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and
in 1567 and 1570 rebuilding of the Wall was mainly
directed by General Qi Jiguang (1528-1588). Poems and
tablet writings can be found on the Jinshanling Great
Wall left from the time when Qi Jiguang directed the
rebuilding of this section of the Great Wall.
According
to one hiker this is what you should expect to find at
Jinshanling:
“Meticulous detail is
evident in the construction of the wall. Everywhere
consideration has been given to deterring and defeating
invading armies. The uneven steps meant to slow down
advancing armies should they make it onto the wall. The
narrowing curves and paths that would bottleneck and
slow them down, limiting the invaders to moving single
file, making them vulnerable to the defending army. Far
down the mountain each brick was crafted by thousands of
workers and carried up the mountain on the backs of
mules. The architecture and engineering a feat that
would challenge us even today.”
There are more than 100 watch
towers along the Jinshanling Great Wall. ‘Watching
Beijing Tower’ is on the highest point, from which you
can see Beijing. The Jinshanling Great Wall is second
only to the Badaling Great Wall in its completeness. When we finally reach the park at Jinshanling, we'll stop by a local farmer's restaurant
for a late lunch.
We’ll
drive back to Beijing, and you will be dropped off back
at your hotel in the early evening. It can take
another 2.5 hours due to the unpredictable traffic
situation in Beijing.
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Note:
Stuff you should bring with you:
* Tough trainer or sneakers (boots preferred), sunscreen and sunglasses
* Backpack, and snacks or energy/protein supplements you want to
have before lunch*
* Extra cash for personal spending
* Don’t forget your camera!
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Check 
Read
complete itinerary of Route 1A: 
