Jiankou-Mutianyu-Huanghuacheng Great Walls Hiking Tour

In the morning, We will meet you at the hotel. It would be advisable for you to carry some food and water for lunch, as well as wear comfortable shoes. Then we will drive to the Jiankou Great Wall where we will start our hiking. Jiankou Great Wall is about 30 kilometers from Huairou District, Beijing. It is about 1100 meters above sea level and extends over 20 kilometers. The shape of the whole Jiankou Great Wall looks like a “W”. Known for its precipitous position, Jiankou Great Wall was built in the Ming Dynasty, so there are many signs of natural weathering in many parts of Jiankou Great Wall.

The spots in the middle section of the Jiankou Great Wall are the essences along the way, like the Beijing Knot where the Jiankou Great Wall and the Huanghuacheng Great Wall meet. You will see the lofty mountains towering up into the clouds from there. Passing the Beijing Knot, we will keep walking south. And there will be some broken paths which make walking difficult, so it is a test of our perseverance. But when we arrive at the Zhenbei Tower, the highest point along the way, it will not be long before we get to the end of the Jiankou Great Wall. Zhenbei Tower is located in the eastern section. Although after hundreds of years, it is well preserved at this place. It is also a good viewing platform and you can up to the tower with a ladder.  

Finishing the Jiankou Great Wall Trekking, we will begin our Mutianyu Hiking Tour. With a length of 5400 meters, Mutianyu Great Wall was built in 1368 during the Ming Dynasty. It attracts many visitors from all over the world each year. Even many foreign leaders visited this place, such as John Major, the former British Prime Minister, and Clinton, the former president of the United States. According to the statistics, the vegetation coverage of this place is up to 96 percent. You will see rolling mountains with lush and varied plants. In different seasons, those mountains will present different views. Surrounded by these beautiful scenery, the Mutianyu Great Wall stands on the top and follows the ridge. Sometimes it makes a turn, and then sometimes it goes straight.

Besides, since ancient times, Mutianyu Great Wall has been a significant barrier protecting the capital. And the Mutianyu Pass played a vital role in the defending. Mutianyu Pass is also called Zhengguan Terrace. It consists of three watchtowers side by side which you will rarely see on the other sections of the Great Wall. And the two buildings on either side are smaller and narrower than the middle one. Built in 1404, Mutianyu Pass occupied an important position with the Huns’ settlement on one side and the way to Beijing city on the other side. It is also a shortcut to imperial tombs. What’s more, the structure of the Mutianyu Pass is very clever. The pass is 40 meters long, 30 meters wide, and 20 meters high. It has two floors. There are three pavilions on the top floor which can lead to the ground floor. Looking towards the Great Wall from the battlements, you will get a wide and better view. And the ground floor has several rooms, which are used not only for the storage of food but also for the stationary troops.

After coming down from the Mutianyu Great Wall, I believe you must be very tired. We will drive you back to the hotel, then you can take a bath and have a good rest.

Jiankou Great Wall

Zhenbei Tower

Today, we will drive to the Huanghuacheng Great Wall, about 70 kilometers from Beijing city, and experience an impressive hiking tour. You can still bring some food and water as lunch. Huanghuacheng Great Wall is famous for its magnificent scenery. There are abundant spots which will make you away from the noise of cities and back to nature. You can enjoy not only the natural beauty of lakes and mountains but also the grandeur of the Great Wall. Besides, when summer comes, there will be so many yellow wild flowers, then this place got its name from this scenery. In Chinese, “yellow flower” is “Huanghua”, and Huanghuacheng means Yellow Flower City.

Huanghuacheng Great Wall was built near the water which is its character, such as the Haoming Lake and the Black Dragon Pond, they are very popular. Haoming Lake is covering an area of about 200,000 square meters and its average depth is about 10 meters. Haoming Lake was originally called Xishuiyu Reservoir. Much natural spring water are merging here, so the water quality is good and pollution-free, you will see many fishes swimming below and mandarin ducks perching by the lake. According to the National Bird-watching Society, this area is the biggest breeding base of wild mandarin ducks in Beijing. What’s more, during the construction of the Xishuiyu Reservoir, three sections of the Huanghuacheng Great Wall are submerged, because river closure by the reservoir dam raises the water level, then the lower sections are in the water, which becomes one of the most attractive aspects of Huanghuacheng Great Wall scenic area.  

On the most western point of the Huanghuacheng Great Wall area is Black Dragon Pond, surrounded by mountains. In summer, it is unbearably hot outside the pond, but when you are closer to the pond, you will feel cooler. Therefore, for many visitors, it is a good place to spend the summer. Legend says that a white dragon used to live here and the pond also was originally called White Dragon Pond. In Chinese mythology, the dragon has the power of controlling the weather. So, local people built a small temple on the mountainside near the pond to enshrine the dragon for praying for rain. Each year, people would offer the white dragon some fruits as an offering, then they could survive the dry season. At first, the white dragon promised easily to bring the rain, but gradually he exposed his greedy nature and was not content with such offering anymore. He began to rub in the village which let people constantly complain. Hearing about it, the black dragon was very angry and decided to teach him a lesson. With the help of the villagers, the black dragon defeated the white dragon. Since then, the rain has come always in time in this area, and people also changed the pond’s name to Black Dragon Pond for thanking him.

Not far from the entrance of the Haoming Lake, there is a Chestnut Garden of the Ming Dynasty, covering an area of hundreds of square meters. The trees in the chestnut garden were planted by the soldiers stationed there in the Ming Dynasty, so the century-old trees can be seen everywhere. Some trees are over 830 years old which is the equivalent of crossing four dynasties. Those trees are in a variety of shapes with twisted roots and gnarled branches. Some of them even are cracked, but they still have strong vitality and even produce dozens of kilograms of chestnuts. Chestnuts are tasteful as well as high nutritional. It is said that Empress Dowager Cixi, an imperial concubine in the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912), regularly eat the desserts made chestnuts to prolong life. After the hiking, we will drive you back to the hotel.

Huanghuacheng Great Wall

Huanghuacheng Great Wall

Author: Zhao Yalin