Great Wall One-day Continuous Hike from Gubeikou to Jinshanling and
to West Simatai
(with gourmet lunch)
TOUR 1X 16-km Extreme Hike for One Whole Day
Popularity Ranking: 
*Ranked by the quantity of signups of
all 1-day hiking routes.
The greatest glory in living lies
not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. -Nelson
Mandela
WELCOME TO THIS WEBPAGE!
Hello, and thank you for taking the time to visit our website! We
know that making a choice about your China trip can be a very big
decision, and that's why we want to make sure that you have as much
information as possible at your disposal. No other tour operator
will give you this much info, and we take it as a point of pride in
making sure that our clients are the most informed before their
departure. Unlike many Chinese sites, our pages are all in English,
and if you find any issues or errors in anything you read, please do
not hesitate to contact us. Once again, thank you for visiting Great
Wall Adventure Club!
Highlights:
1) On this hike you will get the best of both Great Wall worlds,
including both majestically restored Great Wall as well as wild and
dramatic unrestored "Wild Wall," making the hike much more
interesting than others.
2) This program was designed at the request of hikers who want a more
substantial challenge, so this 16km, 7+ hours of Great Wall trekking
is not for the faint of heart!
3) If you are looking for breathtaking views with a relatively
peaceful walk, then the Jinshanling-west Simatai Great Wall hike is
perfect for you.
4) Walk on the Great wall sections that were previously battlefields
in the modern World War II.
*
Lunch and dinner are provided with country-style Chinese stir fry and rice.
While other companies bus you from section to section, Great
Wall Adventure Club lets you personally experience the majesty
of the Great Wall by allowing you to physically pass from one
section to the next. In contrast to driving across, this lets
you see the differences between the restored, maintained,
section on one side and the radically different "wild wall" on
the other.
Detailed Hiking Itinerary: (16 kms
on mountains, 6-7 hours
of walking)
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Your guide and driver will pick you up
from any hotel in Beijing at about 7:30 am.
From your pick up we will drive directly to the
Gubeikou
Great Wall. The drive should take a little over 2.5
hours. The Gubeikou Great Wall occupies a strategically
important location, which is difficult to access.
Situated between Shanhaiguan Pass and
Juyongguan Pass,
and about 62 miles to Beijing, it is the bastion
protecting the northern gateway to the capital. There
are 14 beacon towers, 143 watchtowers, 16 strategic
pass, three citadels and many other military
constructions.
In 1933, Chinese army fought against
Japanese invasion troops in Gubeikou. In
the four-month-long battles, over 5,000 Japanese soldiers were
killed while 9,000 Chinese soldiers died. It was amazing that
ancient wall was still useful in the World War II. In other words,
Gubeikou is not merely a relic but it remained as a battlefield
in modern world. Today, there is
still a military installation in Gubeikou and we'll take a side path
along the Wall to by pass that restricted zone. At Gubeikou,
there exists the Gubeikou Great Wall Anti-Japanese War
Memorial.
Gubeikou is completely unrestored,
covered with over 140 watchtowers, all differing in size
and design. From the wall here you will be able to
witness how the wall twists and winds along the steep
mountain ranges. This is as dramatic a view on the Great
Wall as you’ll find. If the weather is clear, you will
be able to see the shimmering blue lake of the Miyun
Reservoir. There is a section on the wall that is part
of a military base, so you will be able to walk and
explore a quaint nearby local village to take a detour
and re-enter the wall somewhere close to
Jinshanling.
Much
of the hiking that we will do on Jinshanling today is
relatively easy, as the wall here is partially restored
and the surface is smoother. Jinshanling has five main
passes and 67 watchtowers. Every 100 meters (328 feet),
there is an enemy tower each of which is about ten
meters (33 feet) high. Featuring various structures and
having various functions, those watchtowers are either
one tiered or two-tiered. Among them, the most
celebrated are the Big and Small Jinshan Watchtowers.
The Wangjinglou Tower, the General Tower, the Black
Tower and the Taochun Tower are also must-sees on the
Jinshanling Great Wall.
For lunch, we'll take a brief walk
down the wall to a local farmer's restaurant owned by
Mr. Duan Jiujun. His family will make a delicious
country-style meal for you and may invite you to tour
his small photo gallery (he takes photographs of the
Great Wall as a hobby) after your stomach becomes full.
This restaurant is certified by Great Wall Adventure
Club.
Following lunch, we’ll make our way
back onto the Great Wall in order to cross over into
West Simatai. While the eastern portion of
Simatai is
closed due to government maintenance and repairs, the
western section of the Simatai Great Wall is still open
to hikers. The Simatai Great Wall is separated into
eastern and western halves by a valley, with a
rainbow-like chain bridge over the valley. The hills in
the west are sloping gently, with 20 watchtowers
remaining in good shape. The Simatai section of the
Great Wall is one of the few sections to retain the
original appearance of the Great Wall. Incorporating a
variety of characteristics of other sections of the
Great Wall, Simatai also displays some unique features
of its own. It is often described with the following
five words: perilous, dense, diverse, artful, and
peculiar.
After about 2-2.5 hours of hiking
in West Simatai, you will descend down the Great Wall,
where you will be met by your driver. We’ll then drive
back to Beijing, and you will be dropped off back at
your hotel in the early evening (approximately 8 pm).
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Check
our 
Read
complete itinerary of Route 1A: 
