Alternative path from Xizhazi to Great Wall

[Lhury]

Hey guys,

I will be flying to China this July, and you get me really interested in hiking the Jiankou-Mutianyu section of the great wall.

Looking at your advise about getting from Xizhazi village to the wall, you recommend taking the longer blue path. However my question is: Is it possible to go through red path, and continue east to Mutianyu? We will be staying on the wall overnight, and want to soak all the atmosphere, so the time is not an issue. Also, we are fit guys, so difficult hiking is not a problem (unless there are some very dangerous drop offs or crumbling wall which leads to the sure death )


Thanks!

[Bryan]

The section of the Great Wall between the red and blue paths is one of the most dangerous of any.

I don't recommend you try this unless you are an experienced rock climber and you have a high risk tolerance.

Have a look at what you would be up against:

The part of the video showing this span of the Great Wall is from about 0:45 to 1:45.

[chinoook]

Originally Posted by greatwallforum

The section of the Great Wall between the red and blue paths is one of the most dangerous of any.

I don't recommend you try this unless you are an experienced rock climber and you have a high risk tolerance.

And please take into account that you could damage the wall noticable while climbing up there. Protection of the GW should be our first interest.


-chinoook

[Lhury]

Okay, thanks for your advice, I will not go thru that dangerous section.

So I am thinking about this plan:

First day, we start at Xizazhi at about noon and will follow the green path up to Jiankou and go west to Yingfeidaoyang, and ending in Jiuyanlou (Nine-eyed tower), where we put up our tent and stay during the night.

Second day, we come down to Xizazhi (yellow path), get some breakfast at the village, and come back up to Zhengbeilou, and continue east to touristy Mutianyu section.


Is this plan doable? Especially, are we able to do the first day path in about 8 hours? (since we would start at about noon, and want to be at Nine-eyed tower before it gets dark).

And what about the yellow path, are we able to do that in a day and still catch bus from Mutianyu to Beijing?


Also, can we find out the right paths to take (for example from Nine-eyed tower down to Xizazhi?) Or it is absolutely necessary to take the GPS?


Thanks for answers, guys!

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Lhury

Is this plan doable? Especially, are we able to do the first day path in about 8 hours? (since we would start at about noon, and want to be at Nine-eyed tower before it gets dark).

It's doable. But 8 hours for the first day might mean you would want to hurry, and this is no place to be in a hurry. Can you start early in the morning?

By the way, you won't really need a tent. Especially at Jiuyanlou. It is a totally adequate shelter.

Originally Posted by Lhury

And what about the yellow path, are we able to do that in a day and still catch bus from Mutianyu to Beijing?

For sure.

Originally Posted by Lhury

Also, can we find out the right paths to take (for example from Nine-eyed tower down to Xizazhi?) Or it is absolutely necessary to take the GPS?

Between Xizhazi and Jiuyanlou you could easily get lost. There are many different paths going here and there (and sometimes dwindling to nothing). You can't see into the distance.

A GPS will also be helpful for following the trail through the woods to Zhengbeilou.

[andarchen]

Hello Lhury,
If you plan to camp in Jiuyanlou (Nine-eyed tower) , this place might be a good alternative if it is clear day , it just locates 400 meter distance west of Jiuyanlou ,open,wide, and flat.
GPS location is 40.481240°N 116.497877°E .

remote look


Close look

[Lhury]

Originally Posted by greatwallforum

It's doable. But 8 hours for the first day might mean you would want to hurry, and this is no place to be in a hurry. Can you start early in the morning?

Yes, we will be starting early morning, but from Beijing. I think it will take some to figure out what buses to take (especially to the tiny village Xizazhi). We are on very tight budget, and I think the taxi ride from Huairou will be quite expensive for us, but I'll ask: do you know approximately how much it will cost?

Originally Posted by greatwallforum

Between Xizhazi and Jiuyanlou you could easily get lost. There are many different paths going here and there (and sometimes dwindling to nothing). You can't see into the distance.

A GPS will also be helpful for following the trail through the woods to Zhengbeilou.

Hmmm, so what would you recommend? Taking the GPS, and use google earth to somehow approximately program the trail's coordinates into it? I suspect this won't work quite well. Or just taking blindly the approximate path and hope it will lead us to the desired spot?


andarchen: great spot, we'll surely visit it, thanks for the heads up!

[andarchen]

I would like to provide bus information before Bryan replay .
Bus No. 936 from Yujiayuan to Xizhazi , Am 6:00 and 12:50 . from Xizhazi to Yujiayuan Am 11:50 and 16:30 . 20 stops and 8RMB ticket fee for one way .
Coordinates of start sation Yujiayuan(于家园) is 40.327942°N 116.639433°S .
Information from chinese's web , map and name of stop are included : http://beijing.8684.cn/x_5bd1c33d

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by andarchen

I would like to provide bus information before Bryan replay .
Bus No. 936 from Yujiayuan to Xizhazi , Am 6:00 and 12:50 . from Xizhazi to Yujiayuan Am 11:50 and 16:30 . 20 stops and 8RMB ticket fee for one way .
Coordinates of start sation Yujiayuan(于家园) is 40.327942°N 116.639433°S .
Information from chinese's web , map and name of stop are included : http://beijing.8684.cn/x_5bd1c33d

That is extremely helpful, thanks!

It seems the schedule has changed, for when I was in Xizhazi in September of 2008, the bus departed at approximately 9 AM and 12 noon. A bus leaving at 4:30 PM would have been much better!

Those coordinates should be 40.327942°N 116.639433°E. But I wonder if they are right. The bus I took went to the bus station at 40.315460°N 116.641087°E.

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Lhury

Hmmm, so what would you recommend? Taking the GPS, and use google earth to somehow approximately program the trail's coordinates into it? I suspect this won't work quite well. Or just taking blindly the approximate path and hope it will lead us to the desired spot?

Draw your paths in Google Earth and export them to a KML file. Use GPSBabel to convert them to GPX files. Open the GPX files using Mapsource (assuming you're using Garmin) and download them to your GPS receiver.

Originally Posted by Lhury

andarchen: great spot, we'll surely visit it, thanks for the heads up!

Don't try to follow the Wall from Jiuyanlou. It's nearly impossible because it's very overgrown. Follow the path just to the north, which is easy to find both on Google Earth and on location.

The path along the Wall: