When the bus dropped us off, we were given the option of hiking to the wall or taking a cable car. We decided to take the cable car in order to save a bit of time on our 4-1/2 hour trek. I'm pretty sure it would have been faster to hike up, but it was an enjoyable ride and certainly easier on the legs than hiking.
We had a beautiful day for our trek and it was just amazing to see how far in each direction the wall stretches.
In order to give us a bit of a reference point of how far 8 kms. was, we were told we would pass 30 towers. The above photo was Tower #1.
Although this tower has seen better days, it was still nice to count more more down.
If there is a sign to say "keep away", you can be sure to find Campbell somewhere close by.
There were sections of the wall that were so steep we had to climb them on all fours. It was tough going at times.
But there were always places to take a rest.
The section of the wall we trekked has not yet been restored. Parts of the trek were somewhat less than smooth!!
We packed some fruit, croissants, sandwiches and left-over pizza to enjoy for lunch.
Although we did not hire a guide, or even ask for one, this woman followed us for the majority of our trek. We actually really enjoyed her company. She was very helpful showing us some of the paths around the more decrepit towers and was incredibly patient while trying to teach us various words in Chinese.
Our unofficial guide took a photo of us at the half-way point of the trek.
And another group photo at Tower #20.
Along the way, there were spectacular views of the wall off in the distance.
Kelly and our "guide" navigate one of the more treacherous down-hill sections. Our guide walks to the wall every day after walking 5 kms from her farm to the wall. She was originally from Mongolia and was an absolute delight. For all of her efforts, we ended up buying a book from her of photos of the Great Wall and she was thrilled. It was well worth the price of a book just to have her company along the way.
The final task before getting back to the bus was to cross this suspension bridge. Dean wasn't thrilled about the whole idea, but he made it across and we got back to the bus after just over 4-1/2 hours. We were all tired and sore, but it was a spectacular day and one we will never forget.
