Camping on the Great Wall

Sometimes living in China has its perks, like ready access to unrestored sections of the Great Wall with convenient little guard towers perfect for camping.

A Korean coworker and I found out about the great little section that we stayed at this weekend through the Hash Hound Harriers, a running group that organizes runs and post-run parties every month outside of Beijing.  This wasn't so much what you would call a "run" since we were hiking--and sometimes literall climbing--all the way up a mountain and to the top of the wall.  Many of the inclines were 45-60 degrees, but we were often struggling up much steeper paths, and I mean struggling.  This past weekend was without doubt the most intense, non-stop workout I've ever gotten.  The view from the top of the mountain was well worth it once we got there, though.  It was absolutely gorgeous: the mountains were shrouded in mist above lush green valleys as the Great Wall extended far into the distance.  Standing at the top, I couldn't believe how much ground we had all just covered. 

We knew that we would be camping out on the wall after the race with another American, a Canadian, a German and a Belgian, but we didn't know that we would be hiking back up the same mountain again, so we went ahead and partied with the rest of the runners.  Needless to say, being tipsy, carrying 20-30 pound packs, walking up the all-too-narrow "paths" along sections of wall with 6 to 30 foot dropoffs at night and following a guide who didn't necessarily know where he was going ("You guys look for a path somewhere over that way.") was in most ways profoundly imbecilic, but we all somehow made it--even up the treacherously "rubbly" parts--without too many bruises.  We ended up bedding down in an old guard tower at the peak of a mountain with stunning views of the smaller mountains and valleys below.  When we couldn't find any dry brush to start our fire, we used a translated copy of the law regarding camping and running on the Great Wall to get it going.  For obvious reasons, the law proscribes both camping and running on the wall, and offenders face the punishment of "implementation," whatever that means.  I personally thought that the irony was just too much: sitting in a guard tower of an ancient Chinese regime while burning the law of the modern one.  We were sure to leave the remaining pages there for anyone who might need them along the way.  Anyway, we had good times and I've now accomplished something I was really hoping to do before leaving China in July, so I'm happy...and sore!

There are pictures of the places where we were above.  Hope you enjoy! 

tags: travel