Jian Kou to Gubei Kou

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Jian Kou to Gubeu Kou



We woke up early to the sound of the rain and wind bumping into our tent. It was a very foggy and coolish day, we could barely see above 10 meters from us. We waited until the rain passed for us to eat breakfast ( raisin cinnamon oats) and drink tea. We finished breakfast and packed our tent and backpacks and were ready to head forward to Mutinyu. We started our day hike and it was tricky but manageable. We passed some ruins of the wall and had to climbed through broken bricks to get over a few towers. Some young Chinese men passed is along the way. In site of being skinny and very unprepared they seem to know the path and climbed at a fast pace. Me on the other hand was going slower than my usual pace and was getting nervous and really scared of falling down a 10 meter high tower in ruins not any close to civilization. Kyle was a bit faster and more confident climbing these steeps rock walls, however with a 30 kg backpack on his back it made it harder. We passed a few sections and when we got to the highest tower and started to climb it , we realized it was very steep about 90 degree vertical and it required some serious rock climbing . We were not prepared for rock climbing ( no equipment) and if Kyle managed to climbed it I still had to do it on my own cause there was no way he could help me, therefore we decided to play it safe and turned back and find a path to go to the village in Jian Kou.

Going back was difficult because it was a steep hill however I remembered the path and knew where to step and whee not to and also the fog had cleared a bit and we had more visibility the only problem was harbor was slippery from the previous night rain. We returned to our campsite and headed down where the wall started in about an hour or so. I was very scared and tired and kind of had a panic blowup and started crying when we got to the starting point. Kyle cuddled and snuggle me and some. Chinese men who were climbing the wall gave us some advice not Togo the same way we had gotten up because the boulders were super slippery. They help me climbed up the wall and with our very limited Chinese skills we managed to tell them we wanted to go to Gubei Kou te next wild part of the wall. It turned out hey knew an path on the other side that led to a road and which was easy to walk through Thenoldeat man of the group, another man and a women who we assumed was his wife were heading down so they adopted us and helped us all the way down to the road. Before heading into the path we had to climbed down a wooden ladder on the wall. Whole we waited for the other people in the group to climbed down the ladder we saw two women probably from Hong Kong who spoke English and hey said the path was steep slippery and wet but t was manageable. And if we wanted a rode back to Beijing all we had to do was wait maybe an hour for them to climb Tyne wall. That was very nice of them! We went down the path, me going last and backpack less because the oldest man was very kind and determined to carry my 20 kg backpack. They were dressed properly for a hike without trekking pants, boots tshirt jackets and a light backpack with water so I guess carrying my backpack was no issue for him, both men carried a very good camera one which. Kyle saidnit was among he best and most expensive cameras in the market. I was not surprised because Chinese tend to always have the best camera equipment. We walked for about an hour down a dirt trail which was slippery and rocky and bumpy and led me to a slipped and fall down on my bom. We finally reached a flat area that looked like prairie field and saw a foreigner family camping. We continued the walk along a dirt road with the Chinese people taking photos of us and the group altogether and guiding us all the way to a small street leading to other villages. We waited in some kind of pagoda kind of seating area for awhile while the man tried to find us a taxi to get back to Huairou and eventually again to the wall. While we were waiting we saw a group of young guys and gals(who we had seen camping the night before) walking down and calling a taxi driver to pick them up so we ask we we could share the taxi and they said yes so we got a ride to Huairou for less than 50 rmb (10$). The group was all mixed from USA, France, Phillippines, and Sweden plus Kyle from Canada and me from Venezuela we were one big international multicultural group! The ride was bumpy and a little tight in the van but pretty uneven tuft. We chatted for a bit and hen I simply crashed and fell asleep until we got to Huairou. We got to Huairou and stocked up with water and snacks for the next couple of days hikes and wandered around trying to find the 980 bus to Miyun. A bunch of taxis harrassed us and tried to charge us 100 rmb to the bus stop but we knew the bus stop was close and the maximum we would pay was 20 rmb. We finally found a small minivan and the woman driver took us for 20 rmb ( it was totally overpriced 8-10 rmb would have cost using the meter). We waited a few minutes and the first 980 bus stop but it was too full so no space for us to go in. A second bus passed but did not stop and finally few third 980 bus we saw stopped by. The ride to Miyun was about 12 rmb we had to stand for. Most of the ride but as soon as we got to Miyun it got pretty empty a d we could sit down. Miyun is a big town so there were lots of stops before we got to the bus terminal. When we got there all taxis started to harassed us as we were the only laowai ( foreigners) on the bus and we clearly were going to Chang Cheng ( Great Wall). After some arguments discussing he price of the 1 hour ride(55km) to Gubei Kou town we agreed on 140 rmb and hopped on ataxi for about 1.5 hours to Gubei Kou. The ride was smooth but the scenery was really pretty and the high way was well maintained. We reached Gubei Kpu around 3 pm and bought our first ticket to the Great Wall ( in Jian Kou we did notably tickets) for 25 rmb each and started the hike up. The path started with stairs and some displays of a photography exhibit of the Great Walm history and then it led to a dirt path towards the mountains. The dirt path looked well maintained with some vegetation and wild flowers on the sides and the Great Wall on our eye sight at the top of the mountain. I was feeling more confident with the hike as I could se the top and final destination and also because it was simply dirt and a few tree roots, small rocks on he ground nothing hard to hike. We walked for about 200 meters on a little step hill and reached a small memorial area with some flowers and remembrance memories. After another 100 meters we reached a small cottage probably owned by a Chinese local farmer. We continued the hike up for about 1 km and finally reached the wall. The tower were we camped was a small one probably the lowest on the area. When we climbed on the roof we could see a really high point on the west and another section on the South East that crossed the river of Gubei Kpu. We figured that the highest peak will be towards Mutianyu and the section of the walk that crossed the river would be towards Jinshialong and Simatai ( our destination). I pitched the rent while Kyle started the fuel stove to boil water for our dinner. Then he went to take some subset photos and I took over the cooking chore. It took a long time to boil and cooked the onions because the fuel( bought in METRO in Dalian China) was pretty weak and crappy. We had to cook dinner in parts so that the veggies would cook( the night before we ate pasta and the onions and carrots were raw and believe me tasting raw onions is not something we like). Our dinner was ready around 9 o clock at night and we ate drank some green tea and pretty soon we were asleep.

Tips to get to Gubei Kou

- from Huairou take taxi for max. 20 rmb (you can bargain up to 15 rmb (ifyour Chinese skills are good) to 980 bus stop towards Miyun

- bus 980 is about 12 rmb it takes about 45 minutes to get to the bus terminal in Miyun ( last stop)

- taxi from bus terminal in Miyun to Gubei Kou is about 1.5 hours about 140 rmb ( 2'people)

- ticket to Great Wall to Gubei Kou 15 rmb per person .

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