Walking and sleeping on a millennial building: a total experience with easy drifts.
This practical article helps prepare your adventure (trek, bivouac) on the wild sections (also known as « Non-restored », « non-tourism » or « abandoned ») of the Great Wall of China and aims to raise awareness of the preservation of this building exceptional universal value.
Before undertaking this experiment, know that nature has taken over its rights over these non-tourism parts: the passage is not always easy, millennial stones bear the marks of time and if the walls have not yet collapsed, they sometimes threaten to do so. These sections are not forbidden access but not recommended for obvious safety reasons. As recommended in the story of adventures dedicated, don't go there if you're dizzy, if you're not well equipped, if you're un sporty, if you're not at all serene in climbing. On the other hand, go if you want to experience an incredible experience, if you want to experience the wildest part of a legendary building, if you want to tease the peaks and see landscapes to fall, in all senses that it can express.
Only... Don't do it anyhow. Through social networks, drifts have already been observed (pollution, degradation, accidents): for your safety and in order not to have a negative impact on this exceptional heritage, it is up to everyone to adopt the right attitudes.
What you will find in this article:
→ All practical aspects to discover the non-restored parts of the Great Wall of China (organization, equipment, time, budget, food, etc.) in the form of questions/answers.
→ The list of good practices to be followed, especially if you are considering a bivouac.
→ Sections « wild », « Non-restored », « Original »... = forbidden sections?
As already mentioned in the introduction, the presence of visitors on these sections is tolerated. Access is not recommended for security reasons but not prohibited, provided that certain behaviours are respected. However, as more and more people tend to venture on these sections, something the Chinese government had not anticipated, some are led to do so: in this case, signs will signal the ban on the spot, as well as those who prohibit fire or waste.
→ Bivouac on the Great Wall, to what extent is this permitted?
You have the opportunity to camp on the wild parts of the Great Wall of China provided that this practice remains occasional. Like our presence, the bivouac is tolerated on these parts (at least it is still in early 2020, when we write this article). To this end, some simple rules have to be respected, they join those of the National Parks:
- Do not remove stones
- Do not leave any trace of its passage (take away waste storage)
- Set up camp late and lift early, especially to avoid visual pollution
- Do not camp on visibly more fragile parts at the risk of further damage (as well as for your own safety)
- The bivouac area must not interfere with the passage of other visitors
Small accuracy: making a bivouac is tolerated on the unrestored wild parts of the Great Wall of China but remains prohibited on the portions open to tourism. No matter whether the rules described above are respected or not, camping on these sections whose access is regulated is strictly forbidden and the Chinese police do not do in detail: you may have a very bad surprise at night or when you wake up. In addition, these sections all benefit from monitoring often even 24 hours a day.
→ Are these sections really difficult / dangerous? What precautions should I take?
The degree of difficulty and danger varies according to the parties or « Sections » The Great Wall (and your physical condition). Our first 2 days only understood 8km and were achievable in a day with little « obstacles » while the next 2 were much longer and perilous. In all cases avoid going if:
- You're dizzy.
- You're not well equipped. (detailed equipment required below)
- You're unsporting.
- You're not at all serene in climbing. (depending on sections)
- You're not used to long walks. (depending on sections)
We advise against doing so with children because the risk of falling is permanent. Even when the ground is flat, there is often no bulwark to delimit the wall and separate from the void. Also, avoid if it is possible to do so alone at least for the most dangerous sections. If so, do not forget to always warn someone of: 1. Where you are/2. What you're about to do and / 3. When do you think you're going home?
Application MapsMe is a GPS system, maps and off-line itineraries very useful to find the entry points of certain sections and estimate otherwise the time, at least the distance you will have to travel. We used in all the countries we have travelled on our 13-month trip.
→ What equipment do I need?
- A backpack equipped with support straps on the waist and chest. It is important that you be able to centre, stabilize and firmly strap your bag-to-do: otherwise, weight may unbalance you during passages where it is necessary to climb. We had on our back our unique travel bags: the Trek 900 in 60L from Forclaz. Be large enough to distribute our provisions, our business and the bivouac equipment while guaranteeing us comfort and maintenance for several days trek. For smaller sections or at daytime, a capacity of 30l can be largely sufficient.
- Hiking shoes with a good hook. In our case the Merrell Out Blaze 2.
- Constant snacks (for 1, 2 or 3 days depending on the section you have chosen).
- Clothes where you will be comfortable but especially resistant (preventing all steep/very narrow places where you will rub against stones or vegetation)
- For the most dangerous sections: climbing rope to fit in the perilous passages (which we did not have, but which in view of what we climbed and the weight of our bags was unconscious).
- If you plan to bivouaquer: a tent, a trek mattress, an inflatable pillow, a warm down (between 5 and -5° depending on the season). As for the downs, we had the model feather 0° from Forclaz : light, compact, the most affordable of its category, hot (stylish), in short, it is perfect!
- A first aid kit.
- What to protect yourself from the sun by season
- A reusable bag to bring back the waste.
And above all: water is not accessible from the sections. To find or buy them, you will have to leave the wall to go down to the villages. It's the same for food.
→ How long do I have to plan?
Many sections of the Great Wall of China do not find very far from Beijing, some even organize to do a round trip in the day. You'll find a lot less than two hours from the capital.
Then the walking time varies depending on the trek: It can range from 3h to several days depending on the route you choose (prepare half of a life to travel the 8,850km). You can use GPS applications that will provide at least an indicative distance (we were talking about Maps.me a little higher). In general, keep in mind that even if distances are not necessarily very long the typography of the terrain can greatly slow down the progression.
→ What about the budget?
The budget depends of course on what you have planned: it is sometimes necessary to take a night in an inn the day before or to venture further by bus to explore other horizons. But counting a round trip from Beijing, some food, water, a night in a tent and a beer at the end of the day (one of the cheapest of our trip) you can get out for less than 20€ / person for 2 days since access to these wild parts is not paid. Be far away, far away from the prices displayed by some agencies for an excursion on « abandoned parts of the Great Wall of China ». However, this is the way of asking for self-sufficiency.
The IC card available at Beijing bus station is really the right plan to reduce the cost of transport, and in addition it is free!
→ What did we think of the tourist sections in relation to the wild sections?
Our appreciation of the tourist sections is certainly magnified by deeply lonely and wild experience that we had lived just before visiting these. Yet the tourist section on which we had landed after 3 days trek was that of Mutianyu (there are many different tourist sections) and is considered to be less frequented and more « wild » other tourist sections. We visited in October 2018.
On this section we found visitors (very) numerous and respect (environmental as well as human) little present – reference to people who come without carrying their water despite the heat and the important stairs, buy plastic bottles, then throw them away on or above the wall – . We encountered a lot of plugs at the entrance and exit doors of the watchtowers created by the photo shoots or those making admire the view in front of time. In general, we had a hard time moving around without tailing : in stairs, narrower passages, watchtowers... Nevertheless, it is important to say that the sections we have been through were quite dangerous and not necessarily accessible to everyone, this tourist section deserves to be very beautiful and accessible.
There you go.
You're ready for adventure.
We hope that this practical article will allow you to better understand the unrestored wilderness sections of the Great Wall of China. Thanks for browsing it and don't hesitate to share it if you found it useful. You can ask us your questions in commenting on this article (or simply say hello), we always answer.
Hello, je suis de passage à Pékin pour quelques jours fin mars. J’ai prévu de faire 1 jour entier de randonnée pour finir par une nuit sur la muraille. Est-ce-que vous pouvez me conseiller un itinéraire et les points d’entrée ?
(J’ai déjà fait pleins de tresses donc même 30km ce n’est pas un problème).
J’aimerais bien connaître les potentiels départs, arrivées et lieu de bavoirs sympas.
Merci
Mathias