Gubeikou Jinshanling Simatai Great Wall Camping 2 Days

Itinerary

Day 1: Gubeikou to Wild Jinshanling Great Wall hiking and camping

Stop At: The Great Wall of Gubeikou, Gubeikou Town, Beijing 101508 China
Day 1: Hike from Gubeikou to Jinshanling Great Wall (10km, 4 hours hiking)

From our meeting point (Lama Temple Subway exit B), we drive 2 hours to the border of Beijing and Hubei and have lunch at a small homestay surrounded by the Great Wall. With a view of the Crouching Tiger Great Wall, we will enjoy a delicious meal.

It takes us only 15 minutes hiking up the hill behind the farmhouse to get our first glimpse of the Gubeikou Great Wall.

We hike from tower to tower and take breaks on top of a watchtower. These breaks are great chances to take some awesome pictures of this 1400 years old section of the Great Wall. 3 hours later we arrive at the highlight of today’s trail, the Gubeikou General Tower. From this tower, you can see the “whole Gubeikou-Jinshanling-Simatai Great Wall trek” from the start to the end. On a clear day, we can even see the highest tower at the end section of the Simatai Great Wall.

Duration: 12 hours

Stop At: Jinshanling Great Wall, Chengde Shi, Luanping County 068250 China
From the Gubeikou General tower we side track a bit to get around the restricted military section of the wild Gubeikou and Jinshanling Great Wall. The side track is just as pretty as we hike on hill ridges and through farm fields next to the Great Wall. Just when you think “we are in the middle of nowhere” a small farmhouse appears and a the owner will welcome us for a fantastic diner.

With a renewed strength we hike another 15 minutes (this time with our camping gear) to our unrivalled camping spot right next to the Wild Jinshanling Great wall and with a view over our entire trek from start to finish.

Duration: 8 hours

Meals included:
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: We pith our tents right next to the Jinshanling Great Wall with a view from Gubeikou till Simatai Great Wall

Day 2: Jinshanling to Simatai Great Wall hiking

Stop At: Jinshanling Great Wall, Chengde Shi, Luanping County 068250 China
Day 2: Hike from Jinshanling to the West Part of the Simatai Great Wall (9km, 4 hours hiking)

We get up early in the next morning, have a good breakfast and head straight to the Great Wall again. A small trail will bring us back on the mountain ridge and within 15 minutes we are on the Wild Jinshanling Great Wall. The 10-km long Jinshanling Great Wall shows us some amazing defensive features like barrier walls, battlement walls, watchtowers, gun emplacements, shooting holes, horse holes, horse blocking walls.

We hike on top of the crumbled wild Jinshanling Great Wall for about 30 minutes till we reach at the most famous and best preserved section of the Jinshanling Great Wall. Here you can see how the Great Wall of China looked like during the Ming Dynasty.

Duration: 4 hours

Stop At: Simatai Great Wall, Gubeikou Town, Beijing 101508 China
The last part of our hike is all the way uphill again. We pass the General Tower with its intoxicating views over miles and miles of Great Wall as we make our way to the last of the 67 watchtowers of the Jinshanling Great Wall. We visit 4 more towers of the Simatai Great Wall and take a last spectacular picture of the Fairy tower, the highest tower on the Simatai Great wall.
Duration: 1 hour

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
No accommodation included on this day.