Hike! Huanghua, jiankou, mutianyu..

[firefly]

Hi,

Your forum is great and I am aware that most of the information I need is here its just confusing me a little so I want to ask...

Is it possible to hike all the way starting from Huanghuacheng through Jiankou to mutianyu and if so how long does it take? Are there a multitude of places to sleep on the wall in this area or does it need to be carefully calculated? Finally is it possible to do 'alone' by this I mean do you need a guide up there, from what I understand of your maps it should be fine without one. Also are there adequate places to stop for supplies on route or is it advisable to carry along all supplies? The main concern here being water.

Finally, starting from Huanghuacheng do you have to start from the tourist lakeside park and then continue along eastwards or is it possible to get up without going in to the park area?

Thanks!

[PWCCA]

Anything is possible, but that would be one mighty long hike and I am not sure what some of the sections in between Huanghuacheng and Jiankou would be like, maybe some would be very deteriorated and some rather dangerous. It is possible to do it without a guide, but I would not advise going up there alone, its better as a group of two or more people (preferably more).
The problem with these more 'remote' sections is that most of the time the wall is quite far from the nearest village so getting extra water would be tricky and often tiring and inconvenient... and we all know that plenty of water is essential.
If you wanna do this then I would advise splitting it up into smaller hikes and spreading it over the space of a few days making sure to bring just enough water each day.

Lakeside park? Do you mean at Xishuiyu? I know that many people sometimes refer to that as Huanghuacheng but its not, lol (but yes, it is possible to get onto the wall without going into the park, the path itself leads to the road just outside the entrance). At Huanghuacheng a road passes through the centre by the small reservoir so it is very easy to get onto either side of the wall.... possibly the easiest access I have encountered so far. The wall to the west side will take you through Zhuangdaokou and then to Xishuiyu (parts at the end of this are pretty unsafe so make sure you get on/off the wall at the right point), the east side will take you pretty high and then the climb down is rather tricky and dangerous... but fun, lol. From there its a trek over the mountains towards Sanchakou and then Xiangshuihu. I have never walked here so I cant offer much advice at all, but the wall towards Sanchakou looked rather tricky from what I could see from where we left Huanghuacheng, maybe someone else here could offer their views on that, Bryan maybe.
There is a part of Xiangshuihu that dips down the mountain and then back up to Moyashike, this bit looks very dangerous so i wouldnt try and attempt that one. Moyashike is very easy and quite beautiful. As for Jiankou, I have only seen Zhengbeilou so i cant offer much info there, but again, parts of it do look pretty tricky so you will need to be very careful. The hike from Zhengbeilou to Mutianyu is tiring, tough, and scary in parts, but its one of the best hikes I have done so far.

Gosh just talking about all this is making me wanna attempt this myself, hahaha

[firefly]

Yes I did mean xishuiyu so thanks for that!
I have two questions for you;
when you talk about getting on to the wall at huanghua and the path, is that right by xishuiyu?
My second, for building an approximate time-scale, how long did it take you from zhengbeilou to mutianyu?
Thanks!

[PWCCA]

Originally Posted by firefly

Yes I did mean xishuiyu so thanks for that!
I have two questions for you;
when you talk about getting on to the wall at huanghua and the path, is that right by xishuiyu?
My second, for building an approximate time-scale, how long did it take you from zhengbeilou to mutianyu?
Thanks!

1
Xishuiyu is a long walk from Huanghuacheng. When we went to Xishuiyu we walked there from Zhuangdaokou. We exited the wall at a path just before you reach the final tower overlooking the mountain/cliff (you will be able to tell the final one as you really cannot go any further as what is left of the wall just slopes down next to a very perilous cliff drop). The path from that tower down to the road (near the entrance of the holiday park) was difficult to follow and much was covered in trees and bushes which blocked our view and the path branched off in several areas making it tricky to follow. Finding our way down correctly was tough enough but I dread to think how complicated it would be finding your way up to the wall from that point. We took many wrong turns. Its a good idea to take a look at the Great Wall Map for Google Earth that is downloadable from here http://www.greatwallforum.com/forum/...ll-forum-maps/
The wall at Huanghuacheng is very very easy to get onto, though sometimes the locals will charge you a small amount of money to pass onto the wall (access to the west side is through a small restaurant, they charged us 5RMB each to pass, the east side you will find a small old woman sitting in a chair that will charge you 2RMB to pass... what they are doing is illegal but its just a small charge its not worth the trouble). On the wall to the east, access is via a metal ladder into one of the towers.

2
Our trip from Zhengbeilou to Mutianyu tourist wall took us over 6 hours, but that did include time for lunch, photographs, and access to the wall from the village to the south of Zhengbeilou (if you wanna start a hike from Zhengbeilou then I suggest trying from Xizhazi Village to the north of the wall, the hike from the south is long, difficult, tiring, a little dangerous, and pretty time consuming).

[firefly]

Thanks again! I think for us to go to Zhuangdaokou is a little too far west and huanghua/jiankou/mutianyu seems a possibility for say, 3 days and from mutianyu it looks easy to return to either huairou or dongzhimen.
how many wall hikes have you done and which were your favourites? also which had the most hair raising moments? finally how did you get to huanghua, public or private transport and if public, please share as I can't find a bus that goes there!

[Bryan]

Here's a blog (in Chinese) by a group that hiked from Huanghuacheng to Mutianyu. It includes a good route description plus GPS coordinates for many points of interest along the way.

http://lotour.com/snapshot/2007-2-26...ot_58195.shtml

[Bryan]

I should add that the only major detour you would need is one unclimbable part in Moyashike which will be obvious when you see it!

[PWCCA]

Originally Posted by firefly

Thanks again! I think for us to go to Zhuangdaokou is a little too far west and huanghua/jiankou/mutianyu seems a possibility for say, 3 days and from mutianyu it looks easy to return to either huairou or dongzhimen.
how many wall hikes have you done and which were your favourites? also which had the most hair raising moments? finally how did you get to huanghua, public or private transport and if public, please share as I can't find a bus that goes there!

Oh its very very easy to get back into the city from Mutianyu, there are taxis, buses, and tourist buses there so you would never get stuck there.

So far I have made 11 visits to different sections of the wall within the past year, and I plan to do several more before the year is out. I like winter on the wall, lol. The toughest was the hike from Zhengbeilou to Mutianyu... but that was mostly due to the climb to the wall and the Ox horn. Climbing down from the highest part of Huanghuacheng was also something that was rather scary so you will have to be VERY careful here



When we go to the wall we use a local driver. He charges us a lot less than most of the 'private taxis' that you see advertised all over the place... I dont like buses at all so I dont really mind paying the extra for a more reliable and comfortable journey, lol. Maybe someone else here will be able to provide any bus information to Huanghuacheng etc...

So when do you plan to do this trip?

[PWCCA]

Originally Posted by Bryan

I should add that the only major detour you would need is one unclimbable part in Moyashike which will be obvious when you see it!

This part... though is it Moyashike or xiangshuihu? Either way it doesnt look very easy

[firefly]

Originally Posted by PWCCA

So when do you plan to do this trip?

Starting out in the next few days, Tues/Wed/Thur to start