Hiking the Great Wall

We convinced Andrew to ditch work Friday and join us for an epic hike on the Great Wall of China. There are several sections of the wall that can be visited, each with its own unique advantages. We chose to go to a section called Mutianyu which is relatively close to Beijing and where the wall has largely been restored, but because we’re here during low travel season (and because of the cold) there were very few other visitors so it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves for most of the day. We were also incredibly lucky with the weather – we had a bright, sunny, wind-free day – so instead of a quick half-hour on the wall as we expected, we spent six hours hiking, and made it out past the restored sections of the wall where we saw it in its original, crumbling state, covered with snow and with trees growing out of the cracks. The views were incredible and the hike was one of the highlights of our trip to date.