Camping: Hemp Village and Gubeikou Great Wall

Hike in from Hemp Village to camp overnight in a tower at the Gubeikou Great Wall, and finish with an easy wall walk on the next day. You’ll hike easier with just the essentials in your day pack; we’ll arrange delivery of the camping equipment to the campsite.

Level 2+
approx. 3 hours day one, 2-3 hours day two (Can I do it?)

This hike is not currently scheduled

Contact us for schedule updates or set up a private hike

The Great Wall at Gubeikou
The Great Wall at Gubeikou.

UPDATE: We had to cancel this one, sorry.

Working day: for a lot of people working in Beijing, today will be the last day of work before the big October holiday.

On this camping trip you’ll hike through the farmland near Hemp Village to get to the Gubeikou Great Wall, camp overnight in a tower, and then finish with an easy wall walk to end the trip.

We’ll take care of the heavy lifting and main supplies; all you’ll need is a day pack to carry your essentials while hiking, leaving you free to enjoy the scenery, sunset, stars, and sunrise as we hike along the Gubeikou section of the Great Wall.

Maximum group size of 12 hikers; book early to make sure you get a spot!

Bad weather plan

We’ll have a fairly good idea of the weather by about three days before the hike. If it’s forecast to be dangerous, we’d need to call off the hike. If it changes suddenly while we’re out there, we can shelter at our local friend’s courtyard.

The campsite

Our campsite is a partially restored tower at the Gubeikou Great Wall. With the wall at our backs, we’ll have broad views to the south, east, and west, and you’ll be able to see the sunrise by poking your head out of the tower at around about 6:10am.

At night

The sun will set around 5:58pm, and from the campsite we’ll be able to watch as the sun slowly sinks below below a tall ridge of mountains.
Moon phase: Half Moon.

Meals

Lunch, day one: We’ll supply a sandwich, as well as a banana and a Snickers bar. You might like to supplement this with extra snacks.

Dinner: We’ll supply basic camp food: things like bread and rolls, ham and salami, pickles and cheese, and some cup noodles and soups. We’ll bring gas burners to boil water for hot drinks. We’ll also bring a bottle of red wine! Dinner will be tasty but fairly basic, and we’re not able to have open fires.

Breakfast: We’ll bring bread and jam and fruit, tea and coffee.

Snacks: We’ll supply an apple, and nuts and things to make trail mix.

Lunch, day two: We’ll head to a local restaurant and celebrate with a big meal and plenty of cold beer.

Water: We’ll provide 4 litres of bottled water per person, plus an electrolyte drink.

Equipment

We supply: one tent for each person, sleeping bag and liner, ground pad, hiking poles.

What you need to bring

  • Day pack to carry the essentials.
  • Standard hiking gear and boots, and a waterproof jacket just in case.
  • Warm clothes for the evening, spare socks and underwear.
  • Hat and gloves.
  • Flashlight or head lamp.
  • Toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
  • Toothbrush, small towel.
  • Suncream.
  • Personal medicine and basic first aid supplies.
  • Entertainment: a book, cards, a bottle of something.
  • Extra food and snacks ie chocolate.

Recommended packing method

You’ll need a day pack to carry the essentials: your clothes, food, water, and anything you can’t do without. You won’t need to carry the camping equipment.

Hiking trail

On the first day of the trip we’ll walk into Hemp Village, and then out into the farmland behind it. Hemp Village is almost encircled by the wall, and we’ll have views of the wall in the hills around us as we hike through hills and valleys. The wall here borders a military area, which means no walking on top. We’ll be on the outside of the wall, looking for a good way to get in … which we’ll find at the 24-Eyes Tower, the tallest tower of the Great Wall at Gubeikou. From the 24-Eyes Tower we’ll be on top of the wall as we hike down to the tower that will be our campsite. At the campsite we’ll set up the tents, cook dinner, and find a good spot to watch the sunset.

On the second day we’ll have breakfast and pack up before hiking the rest of the Gubeikou Great Wall, a fairly easy walk that has us on top of the wall as we pass through towers on the way to Gubeikou Village.

The hiking trail is essentially the same as our Hemp Village to Gubeikou hike, but spread out over two days. Read a full description of Hemp Village to Gubeikou here.

Maximum group size of 12 hikers; book early to make sure you get a spot!

Reasons you might not enjoy this trip

  • We rate this hike a Level 2+, but there are still a few steep climbs to do.

COVID-19 and participation precautions

The current precautions are minimal. Please read in full here: Operating hikes under COVID-19 precautions

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