Hike! Pianguan to Laoniuwan

[Hector]

Hello,

Im going to do a short Hiking in Shanxi GW. Im want to start in Pianguan and finish in Laoniuwan. I have no idea about the Wall in this province. Is the Wall conected between those two points? I dont have GPS dvice, just a compass. So is it possible get Laoniuwan from Pianguan following the Wall?

Thanks,
Hector

[chinoook]

Could you please tell which exact location you mean by "Pianguan"? I will be able to give more precise information then.


-chinoook

[andarchen]

Originally Posted by chinoook

Could you please tell which exact location you mean by "Pianguan"? I will be able to give more precise information then.
-chinoook

I thought "pianguan" is "piantouguan", picture below is two places Hector plan to go through.No connection between Pianguan and loaniuguan , and red lines in picture are GW path i can see clearly from GE .
Please download kmz file as picture show.

[chinoook]

Originally Posted by andarchen

I thought "pianguan" is "piantouguan", picture below is two places Hector plan to go through.No connection between Pianguan and loaniuguan , and red lines in picture are GW path i can see clearly from GE .
Please download kmz file as picture show.

My thought was the same than yours. And I agree: There is no conntecting wall between. But we are able to recommend a walking path ending at Laoniuwan. My recommendation would be to start from there as I did in 2008 ...


-chinoook

[Hector]

Well, I mean Pianguan. There is a post from Bryan in the phorum Maps and Mappin-GPS information that shows a list of GPS coordenades of the GW, and there appears Pianguan 39°26'6"N 111°29'25"E. Thats why I thought that there is a section of GW at Pianguan.

Now I have to change my plans. I dont want to start at Laoniuwan but finish there. I want to run around 50 km. Could you please tell me any advice about a place to start hiking, and also a closely and easy to get city from which I would be able to search the GW?

Thanks so much!!

Hector.

[chinoook]

Originally Posted by Hector

Well, I mean Pianguan. There is a post from Bryan in the phorum Maps and Mappin-GPS information that shows a list of GPS coordenades of the GW, and there appears Pianguan 39°26'6"N 111°29'25"E. Thats why I thought that there is a section of GW at Pianguan.

The location information is correct. It was an important garrison town in Ming times.

Now I have to change my plans. I dont want to start at Laoniuwan but finish there. I want to run around 50 km. Could you please tell me any advice about a place to start hiking, and also a closely and easy to get city from which I would be able to search the GW?

Well, as I quoted earlier it is easier to start at Laoniuwan. The Laoniuwan section is one of the most beautiful GW sections at all. Especially in autumn. You find some information here and here.
Don't underestimate who difficult travelling in far off locations in China is. I described some of the problems getting there. If you really want to walk the other direction you should first go to Shuozhou 39°19'34.21"N 112°25'33.28"E. If you managed that you would have to find a bus or any other transportation to Laoyingzhen 39°31'29.58"N 111°50'44.42"E. This would mean you walk a section of the inner Wall and the whole section from the junction of inner and outer Walls to Laoniuwan. But after having reached the point where the Wall hits Laoniuwan you have a problem: Either you have to walk to the next road and then a long and difficult way to the dam (39°34'43.34"N 111°25'38.26"E) from where public transport should be possible. If you started from Laoniuwan you could easily take a boat trip and see the impressive gorges of the Yellow River. Transportation from smaller places to bigger ones (Laoyingzhen - Shuozhou) is also _much_ easier than the other way round.
All in all I recommend: Begin in Laoniuwan and end wherever you want to get off the Wall, take a GPS if possible with the Wall marked as a route or a track on it (most of the wall there is _very_ easy to find, no GPS needed, but around Laoniuwan you will have to search the wall, it is a bit disrupted there and the terrain is not to easy), buy the best (chinese) provinical map you can find. Some Chinese language skills will make it much, much, much easier.


-chinoook

[Hector]

Thanks Chinook and Andarchen,

It seems that start at Laoniuwan is the best option, so I think it's what I'm going to do. Will think later about which direccion will get.

Thanks,
Hector

[POCs]

I was just wondering how this trip ever worked out??

I'm thinking about doing some section of laoniuwan - datong:

Laoniuwan to Datong

Specifically I was wondering if the compass & map vs GPS question was ever answered??

Thanks,

Kerri

[hammermaker]

I did a hike from Shui Quan to Lao Niu Wan. You can find the detailed write up with pictures here:

Shui Quan 水泉 to Lao Niu Wan 老牛湾 hike