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Hiking photos - Nine-Eyes Tower, 2011/03/20

The Nine-Eyes Tower hike takes us up to an old tower that had nine windows, or “eyes,” on a side, giving it its name. Our route started in the village of Xizhazi, at the foot of a ridge. The Great Wall runs along the top of the ridge, so our day began with an uphill hike to reach the historic structure.

Once we reached the Wall, we had to continue following it along a tricky, broken-down section in order to reach the Nine-Eyes Tower. From the tower, we had amazing views of the north side of Jiankou, the Chinese Knot, and the Great Wall Spur. After exploring the ruins of an old barracks, we descended down the face of the ridge to rejoin the lower section of the Great Wall and picked our way along it towards the Chinese Knot.

Some parts of this section of the Wall are so broken down that we had to skirt along the side of it, rather than stay directly on top of it the whole way. Eventually, we reached the foot of the Chinese Knot. From there, we headed back down to Xizhazi, where we enjoyed our post-hike refreshments.

The Nine-Eyes Tower is the highest point of the hike.

Most of the towers in this area have at least partially collapsed. There has not been any reconstruction work.

Some sections of the Great Wall are quite steep as it follows the contours of the rugged landscape.

We had to pay careful attention to the bricks underfoot, as many had become dislodged after hundreds of years of weathering and plants’ roots growing in the cracks.

Lichens have started growing on some of the bricks on the Great Wall.

We followed a path that had been made through the thick brush on top of the Wall.

Looking ahead.

Some towers are more intact than others.

Enjoying a break.

Some of the stairs at tower doorways had crumbled away, so we helped each other through them.

Two happy hikers with the Chinese Knot in the background.

More photos from hikes in the news section; more hikes on the upcoming hikes page.

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