4 Day Trek From The Ocean

Day 1 · Beijing - Old Dragon’s Head - Shanhaiguan

We will start with a 4.5-hour drive to the Shanhaiguan Pass (The First Pass of Great Wall of China), which is in a town situated in the northeast of Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. It adjoins the Bohai Sea to the southeast and the Yanshan Mountain to the northwest.

We'll visit the Great Wall Museum to learn about the history of the Great Wall. We will start our hike at Old Dragon’s Head, also known as Laolongtou, the most eastern section of the Great Wall, which extends into the Bohai Sea. Standing here is almost like being on a peninsula as you can feel the overwhelming power of the rolling sea.

In the end, we'll visit Shanhaiguan Pass Fortress, which is also known as “The First Pass Under Heaven”. Climbing up the Zhendong Tower, you will see that to one side of the tower is the rolling sea, while on the other lies the impressive Great Wall.

Meals: lunch, dinner

Accommodation: Shanhai Hotel or similar

Day 2 · Jiaoshan – Sandaoguan - Dongjiakou

The Jiaoshan Peak is two miles away from Shanghaiguan. Though relatively diminutive in size, this is the first actual mountain the Great Wall passes heading west, and so is known as “the first mountain of the Great Wall.” Jiaoshan ancient wall provides you a sense of historical vicissitude. The wall appears more and more crumbled and deformed as you forge ahead.

Hiking partly on the wall and partly by following a wild mountain trail in a northeasterly direction for about three to four hours, you will find yourself in the beautiful valley overlooked by Mt. Longevity: huge stones, quiet forest and crystal creeks. In the shadow of Mt. Longevity sits the little village of Sandaoguan with about 35 families living in it. We will drive to Dongjiakou Great Wall and overnight there.

Walk: 11 miles

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Accommodation: Dongjiakou Village Hostel

Day 3 · Dongjiakou-Chengzhiyu-Xiaohekou

In the early morning after breakfast, we will hike up the mountain in Dongjiakou village for the beautiful arch-stones that contains amazing reliefs, and Cihou, a ruined fortress that can only be seen in this part of the Wall (about one hour). Then we will go around Dongjiakou village to more closely examine the ruins of the fortress and chat with the villagers, who are the descendants of the builders and guards of the Great Wall. The hike takes about 2.5 hours or 3 hours. Lunch is at Dongjiakou.

The rest of the trek to Xiaohekou takes us about 5 hours, passing Chengziyu village on the way (where we will have our lunch). At the end of the trek, we will drive from Xiaohekou to the nearby Qingfeng hostel.

Walk: 10 miles

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Accommodation: Xiaohekou Hostel or similar

Day 4 · Baiyangyu Marble Wall

Baiyangyu enjoys the unique reputation of marble Great Wall. “Baiyangyu” literally means “White Sheep Valley”. A river called Baiyang River passes the valley from north to south. There used to be a grand water pass of the Great Wall bridging the valley which now still divides the Baiyangyu Great Wall into two sections – East and West. The east section of the Wall has a 1.5km unique marble wall, 10km high and 5m wide, rarely seen among other sections of the wall.

We'll retun to Beijing this afternoon.

Walk: 6 miles

Meals: Breakfast, lunch