Jiankou

This weekend, a friend and I decided to make the trek out to Jiankou, one of the "wild" sections of the Great Wall famous for its scenic beauty and perilous inclines. To get there from Beijing, we got on express bus no. 916 from the Dongzhimen terminal to Huairou Nandajie, where we hired a driver to take us up through the mountains to Xizhazi Village. Xizhazi lies at the base of the Great Wall approach trail, in a narrow valley hidden in the shadow of some of the steepest mountains I've ever seen. The trip up should have been breathtaking scene after breathtaking scene. Unfortunately, it was pouring.

By the time we arrived at Xizhazi, which took about three hours in total, we were dead-set on hiking no matter what. Jiankou is far enough away that we weren't going to let anything stand between us and the wall once we got there. We took advantage of the long car ride to convince each other that neither of us would mind winding up completely wet by the end of the day. In retrospect, this was probably a great idea, because when we returned to our hostel later in the evening we were soaked to the bone.

Luckily, the staff at Zhao Shi Shan Zhuang were incredibly hospitable. Actually, "staff" is probably the wrong word. The hostel is essentially a farmer's house, which he runs with his wife (and possibly help from one other couple, although it was really difficult to figure out who was a guest there and who was just a local neighbor helping out). Lao Zhao's, as it is also called, is particularly popular among Jiankou photographers -- so popular, in fact, that all the rooms are decorated with Great Wall photos taken by guests. On a clear day, its front porch offers a panoramic view of the wall as it winds its way along the mountainous peaks. Mrs. Zhao -- an extremely kind and patient woman who keeps the hostel running on a day-to-day basis -- fed us, answered all of our questions, made us ponchos out of trash bags, and even drove us back down to the bus stop in the morning when the usual shuttle never came. I would highly recommend this place to anyone. Here are a couple good pictures I took in the morning when the skies cleared:

View from Zhao Shi Shan Zhuang. You can just make out the wall in the distance along the ridge.

Another view of the wall from Lao Zhao's.

The approach trail was a steep, overgrown dirt path that took an hour to summit at a moderate pace. The tree cover was dense, which offered a reprieve in the pouring rain but also made it impossible to see how far we'd come or how far we'd yet to go before actually reaching the wall. Toward the end, we were so concentrated on the monotonous thump of our increasingly heavy shoes in the mud that we might have walked right into it if it weren't for a well-timed and much needed water break. And there it was, towering some 25 feet above us as we stood at the top of the ridge. It took a few more minutes to find a way up. At last, the hard part was over.

Walk long enough and you literally bump into it.

Well, sort of. When they say a section of the wall is "wild," they really mean in hasn't been touched in hundreds of years. So instead of a paved path along the top like you'd find at Mutianyu or Badaling, there's just dirt and trees. And instead of stairs at the inclines, there are just crumbling stones that you have to climb up on all fours. Parts of the wall have collapsed or are otherwise un-walkable. These require you to climb down and walk around via trails at the base. The fog made it difficult to see the surrounding mountains and pieces of the wall, but we did randomly happen upon one really cool tower before turning around and trying the other way. Again, the rain complicated everything. It took another hour-and-a-half to climb down, and we were so tired by the time we got back to Lao Zhao's that we went right to bed. Of course the next day, it was as clear and beautiful as ever. This was frustrating, but we did manage to get some good pictures before heading home.

"Stairs."

Tower interior.

Sunrise over Xizhazi Village.

All in all, Jiankou was a great adventure. I would totally do it again, if only to stay at Lao Zhao's for one more night and to see the parts of the wall the rain stole from me. As an aside, I just want to say that reading blog posts about similar trips was crucial in planning to make this happen. But even with the wealth of personal accounts available on the web, getting there and back was tough, even with half-way decent Mandarin. That said, if you are reading this because you've stumbled upon it in a Google search for Jiankou, please leave a comment and I'll do what I can to help you figure out the best way to get there. Hiking the Great Wall is a great experience, and perhaps the most memorable tourist trap Beijing has to offer.

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