Planning
Hello Bryan and everyone,
I am planning on traveling to the Great Wall in the coming weeks. We are relatively experienced hikers. A friend and I will likely stay three days in Beijing, then head up to Jinshanling for the hike. I have read all the posts on this site and some others but still don't fully understand what the hike entails. Please tell me if anything I state underestimates difficulties, skips steps, etc. I plan on the following:
1。 Wake up at dawn, take the "Dongzhimen long-distance bus station" to Miyun 密云, change to a minibus to Gubeikou 故被扣, and get off at Bakeshiying 巴克什营. This drive should take about three hours.
2。 After that we would pay the 40rmb admission price and start hiking east toward Simatai. This hike is about 10 km and should take us 3 hours. After that, we'll reach the reservoir/bridge.
3。 We pay the 5rmb, cross over the bridge, and enter into the Eastern section of the Simatai wall. At some point we have to pay another 30rmb. We will have lunch looking over the reservoir.
4。 We continue hiking 3km up to Tower 14. This is the farthest one can legally go. This portion of the hike should take about two hours.
5。 Depending on weather conditions and the presence of guards, we continue going to the 15'th Tower. Here we stop because the Sky Bridge 天桥 will probably terrify us.
6。 We turn around, hike back to the reservoir area, find a bus back to Beijing (Number12 from Simatai to Xuan Wu Gate.) The return hike should take another two hours.
7。 Spend the night in Beijing or train directly to Qingdao.
I have several questions, sorry.
1) The eastern part of Simatai is basically a dead end, so we have to go up, then turn around and come back down, right?
2) Is hiking from Jinshanling to Simatai, up Simatai eastern side, and back down too much for one day? I'm estimating it will take 7-8 hours of hiking.
3) How long is the bus back from Simatai? Do you suggest some other way of getting to Jinshanling in the morning; will we arrive too late if we take the multiple buses?
4) I'm thinking each of us carries 3L of water, two sandwiches for lunch, and some energy/nutrition bars. Is this enough?
5) One of us doesn't have hiking shoes. Should we buy him actual shoes or will good sneakers (athletic shoes) be sufficient? If so do you recommend hiking shoes (low cut) or hiking boots (high cut)?
6) Lastly, are there any hotels in Simatai you recommend (maybe from your 2004 trip, costs more or less how much) so that if it gets too late we will stay there?
Thank you so much! I know these are tons of questions. I am just trying to plan this out safely and successfully. I am very excited.
Appreciatively,
Franco
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