Hike! 2009 East Hebei trek

[Bryan]

I agree. We will take a boat (or boats) if possible and know that we can walk around if absolutely necessary. We will also hope that Google Earth will come up with high resolution imagery in this area.

[Bryan]

It's always interesting to compare different maps. Here are a couple more.

Map of Panjiakou area from the Nelles Northeastern China Map

Map of Panjiakou area from the Self Drive Tours Around Beijing Map

[Kim]

I found some better maps of the Tangshan area yesterday at the local book store. Hopefully I can find something similar for Qinhuangdao.

This is the Panjiakou area:

[Kim]

I also found a small map book about Hebei province and noticed a small wall close to Shanhaiguan. I have not seen that wall on any other maps before.

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Kim

I found some better maps of the Tangshan area yesterday at the local book store. Hopefully I can find something similar for Qinhuangdao.

Now that is a nice map! Excellent detail. What's the scale of that map?

[Kim]

Now that is a nice map! Excellent detail. What's the scale of that map?

The Panjiakou map is 1:250,000. Unfortunately all the maps in the book are in different scale to make them fit the pages, so it a bit difficult to stitch them together.

[Bryan]

I know this adventure is a long time away, but I have been thinking about new gear. The primary items on my list so far are:

• Tent – 2-person – Target weight under 1.8 kilograms or 4 pounds
• Sleeping bag – Target weight under 0.7 kilograms or 1.5 pounds
• Pack – Target weight 0.5 kilograms or 1.1 pound

As always, I will seek the lightest useable products. I will first research the tent and then the sleeping bag. I am pretty sure I will want a Golite pack so not much research will be needed there.

Kim, please let me know if you already have a good 2-man tent or if you have a one-man tent and would prefer that I get my own one-man tent. Normally the load is the lightest if two people share carrying parts of a 2-man tent, but if you prefer for us to each carry a one-man tent, that's fine too. I might even go with a hammock and a bivy sack.

[Kim]

Pack – Target weight 0.5 kilograms or 1.1 pound

That seems very low for a pack to carry clothes, food, water, sleeping bag and tent. What size do you expect to buy?

As long as we don't share the same sleeping bag a 2-man tent is okay

I don't have a tent yet but will buy one soon to do some Great Wall trekking in the autumn

There are some good outdoor shops in Beijing so I will have a look one day soon.

[Bryan]

I'm looking at packs like
http://www.golite.com/Product/proddetail.aspx?p=PA5252 or http://www.golite.com/Product/proddetail.aspx?p=PA5251. I have always had good results with Golite packs. Note that they also have tents and sleeping bags, but I have never tried them.

[Bryan]

Will you please do me a favor when you go shopping for tents in Beijing? I a interested to know the price and availability of a Unistrong-modified Garmin GPSMap 60CSx GPS receiver with the detailed China map. Thanks!