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This week's hikes
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Short descriptions of this week's hikes are listed below, and our full hiking schedule is on the upcoming hikes page.
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Saturday February 25th, 2012
Yanqing Great Wall and Long Valley City
Head far out into the mountains of Yanqing County for a tough five-hour walk that follows a section of wall reconstructed in the early Ming Dynasty. Along the way we’ll get views of the Guanting Reservoir, valleys and mountains, one of the highest Great Wall towers in Beijing, and a well-positioned radar station. We’ll finish up with a downhill stroll through a leafy valley, passing a reservoir before taking a look around a village with an ancient shrine, a restored temple, and a venerable old tree. 13km with some steep ascents and descents. We’ll have snacks and hot drinks at the village after we finish hiking. Recommended for experienced hikers, good boots required.
The "Yanqing Great Wall and Long Valley City" hike is fully booked, and we can't take any more reservations. We can put your name on the standby list (please call (10) 6432-2786, or email with your name and mobile number) and call you if a seat becomes available, but can't guarantee a place on the hike.
Yanqing Great Wall and Long Valley City - Basic hike information
Cost: 340 RMB per person; Bus leaves from Lido Starbucks at 8:00am; 2.5 hours travel each way; 5–6 hours of hiking; return est. 6:00pm at earliest.
Read more about this hike | What to bring | Back to top of page -
Saturday February 25th, 2012
Intelligence Valley
A clear stream runs through Intelligence Valley, and the surrounding mountains form a microclimate that makes this a very nice walk. At this time of year all the streams and pools will have frozen over, and we’ll do a bit of walking on ice. It’s a flat hike, and one of the easiest that we do – perfect for kids and families. At the end of the hike we’ll stop by a farmers’ guesthouse for a big lunch of homestyle Chinese food – cost included in the price of the hike.
Extra: On this hike we will be accompanied by Betsy Taylor, an experienced Naturalist who will keep an eye out for interesting flora, fauna, and geology while we walk. Stick close to her if you’re interested to learn more about what we see on the hike, and she’ll talk about anything we find.
Intelligence Valley - Basic hike information
Cost: 350 RMB (200 RMB for children under 12); Bus leaves from Lido Starbucks at 9:00am; 2 hours travel each way; 2.5–3 hours of easy walking; return approx. 5:00pm.
Read more about this hike | Make a reservation | What to bring | Back to top of page -
Sunday February 26th, 2012
Longquanyu Loop and Great Wall
On this hike you’ll visit small villages, walk through valleys, and follow a nice stretch of Great Wall in the area north of the Ming Tombs. We hike the valleys in this area quite regularly – the streams are good to cool down in during summer, and we can walk on the ice when they freeze in winter. At this time of year, we’re not sure if the ice will be thick enough to walk on, so to avoid wet and cold feet we’re going to stay up in the higher valleys and follow the Great Wall. The Great Wall is found in the middle section of this hike—about a quarter of the total distance.
The "Longquanyu Loop and Great Wall" hike is fully booked, and we can't take any more reservations. We can put your name on the standby list (please call (10) 6432-2786, or email with your name and mobile number) and call you if a seat becomes available, but can't guarantee a place on the hike.
Longquanyu Loop and Great Wall - Basic hike information
Cost: 300 RMB; Bus leaves from Lido Starbucks at 8:30am; 2 hours travel each way; 3–4 hours of hiking; return approx 5:00pm.
Read more about this hike | What to bring | Back to top of page -
Wednesday February 29th, 2012
Jinshanling Great Wall
The Great Wall at Jinshanling is the type often seen on postcards: large, intact towers, and impressive stretches of wall that climb steep ridgelines. Parts of the Jinshanling Great Wall have been reconstructed and see quite a few visitors, but with a bit of hiking it’s possible to explore sections that are unrestored and not quite so commonly visited by tour groups.
On this hike, we’ll walk all of the eastern section of Jinshanling; hike a few towers of Simatai and maybe get a little look at what they’re doing over there; and follow a paved park trail through the hills to finish.
Jinshanling Great Wall - Basic hike information
Cost: 400 RMB (360 RMB for members); Bus leaves from Lido Starbucks at 8:30am; 2 hours travel each way; 3–4 hours of hiking; return approx. 6:30pm.
Read more about this hike | Make a reservation | What to bring | Back to top of page - For a full list of all our upcoming hikes, please visit our upcoming hikes page.
2012 Special Trips
View the 2012 Long Distance trip schedule.
2011 Long Distance trips: See the trips completed, and photos.
Beijing Hikers Club Membership
Become a club member; hike for a 10% discount.
Read the membership info page for details
News and updates
Hiking photos – Middle Route of Switchback Great Wall, 2012/02/04
We drove out into Yanqing District to visit an unrestored section of Great Wall that we call the Switchback. We got good photos on a nice clear day – click through to take a look! (2012/02/08)
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Hiking photos – Dragon Cloud Mountain, 2012/02/01
On this hike we drove way out into Miyun District to climb up on to Dragon Cloud Mountain and to cross the frozen White River. Click through to see photos! (2012/02/08)
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Hiking photos – Triangle Hike and Silver Pagodas, 2012/01/22
For this hike we joined two of our older trails to make a longer trek, starting with a long walk through the countryside before climbing up to the top of the mountain behind the Silver Pagodas. Click through to see some photos from the hike. (2012/02/08)
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Hiking photos – Gubeikou and Jinshanling Great Wall Christmas hike, 2011/12/24
Every year we do a Christmas hike, usually walking a nice stretch of Great Wall before a feast of food at a local restaurant. For 2011, we did the Gubeikou to Jinshanling Great Wall hike – click through to see a whole lot of Great Wall photos! (2012/01/13)
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Sixteen trips, seven provinces: a review of our 2011 Long Distance trips
In 2011 we did sixteen special long distance trips, visiting interesting and scenic locations outside of Beijing. We'll be doing more of them in 2012—some to the same places, and some others to places we didn't get to in 2011. Click through to see photos from where we went in 2011, and where we'll be going in 2012! (2011/12/30)
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Special trip photos – Lijiang and Shangri-La, 2011/11
Our last long distance trip for the year was to Yunnan Province, where we walked the cobbled lanes of the old towns of Lijiang and Shangri-La, did a little countryside hiking, and got a good local at the local ethnic culture. Huijie took hundreds of photographs – click through to take a look at her favourites! (2011/12/30)
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Current Conditions
Fair, -7°C
Sunrise: 6:56 am
Sunset: 5:56 pm
Humidity: 46%
Forecast Conditions
Thu, 23 Feb 2012
Partly Cloudy, high of 7°C, low of -4°C
Fri, 24 Feb 2012
AM Clouds/PM Sun, high of 8°C, low of -4°C
View extended forecast at Yahoo! Weather
