Highlights

Yugu Snow Mountain

A newly-opened scenic area on the mountain has high and low basecamps and hiking tracks that show superb snowy scenery—a glacier at 4,000m above sea level, long views down valleys to flat plains far below, and alpine meadows.

We’ll stay in a hotel in the nearest town, and visit the mountain for two days of walks: one day up at high altitude, and one day in the canyons and valleys in the foothills. (If you’re feeling good with the altitude, and the weather permits, we might be able to organise a night in a tent for you at one of the basecamps.)

Mars Valley

The scenery in the valley is like a moonscape—dry and rocky—and in some places the red pigment in the soil and rocks makes it look like Mars, the red planet.

We’ll drive in and explore Mars Valley on foot. After a break for lunch we’ll take a hike in ‘Alien Valley’.

The Fortress at Jiayuguan

Jiayuguan Fortress is known as the westernmost end of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall, and was one of the most important fortifications of its time, guarding the western entrance to China from the Hexi Corridor. The fortress has three defense lines – a moat, an outer city wall, and an inner city wall. There are gates on the east and west side. The fortress looks spectacular, with Great Wall climbing from it to the mountains in the north and south, and multi-storey towers and halls inside the walls and moat. We’ll visit the fortress on the first day of the trip.

In ancient times, banishment was a common form of punishment. If you were banished ‘to the West’, it's out through the west gate of the Jiayuguan Fortress that you'd pass.

Although the fortress at Jiayuguan marked the western end of the main line of Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD) Great Wall, more watch towers were built further to the west. Near a deep canyon, we’ll find ‘The First Beacon Tower’, built to give early warning, via smoke signal, of approaching attackers. We’ll also take a look at a section of the Han Dynasty wall known as the Overhanging Wall, said to have been restored using the Han Dynasty construction techniques.