Jiankou Great Wall overnight camping
Trip Start
Jul 20, 2004
1
137
156
Trip End
Jul 20, 2012
Beijing,
China
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Located in the mountain ridge of Xizhazi Village, Huairou County in Beijing, Jiankou Great Wall was an important section of the wall in Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). Owing to the need for renovation, the wall is regarded as one of the most dangerous sections of the Ming's wall. It connects to Mutianyu Great Wall in the east and joins Huanghuacheng Great Wall in the west. From east to north, the wall zigzags 9.3 miles from 'The Ox Horn Edge Wall' to 'The Nine-Eye Tower' via 'The Beijing Knot'. Compared with Mutianyu Great Wall, the mountain is higher and steeper, while compared with Simatai Great Wall, it is more winding and varied
Jiankou Great Wall - Village entry
. It was built from the local material - dolomite. The large pieces of white rock make the wall striking to the eye at a distance.There are many famous sections of Jiankou Great Wall, such as 'The Nine-Eye Tower', an important command post during the ancient wars. It has three layers, and there are nine holes which look like nine eyes on each side. 'The Beijing Knot' is the meeting point for three walls coming from different directions. 'The Sky Stair', is a precipitous stair whose angle of elevation is 70 to 80 degrees. It leads to 'The Eagle Flies Facing Upward', a watch tower built on the lofty peaks.
We decided to sleep on the Great Wall in the hope of catching a 3-in-one event; sunset, star-studded sky, and sunrise. However, it was cloudy and no stars could be seen; instead we could hear the fireworks for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic games. With no other humans in sight, we settled for a bottle of "Great Wall Red Wine" and snacked on our food. It got dark pretty early so we decided to snuggle up in our sleeping bags and tell stories. Soon we were sound asleep until the first lightening and thunder woke us up. A few drops of rain here and there didn't deter us from our Wall sleep. By 2am, things got stormy - heavy lightening, thunder and rain made us flee into a watch tower that offered some not-so-clean-and-dry cover. The storm went on until about 5am during which time I had to change the position of my sleeping bag in order not to get soaked.
After a wet night, we hang around the Great Wall a little bit longer before making our way back to the village for a hearty lunch. We had to catch the 1pm minibus back to Huairou in order to avoid the rather expensive taxi charges. It is well worth going back for another try, either at climbing the wall from Jiankou to Mutianyu or just for another overnight stay.
