Gubeikou to Jinshanling Great Wall
Walk from Gubeikou to Jinshanling, following stretches of restored and unrestored Great Wall and taking a detour through the pretty farmland that surrounds Hemp Village.
This hike is scheduled as a join-in group tour on the following dates
Follow the links to see current hike information and booking details.
Hike options: the Gubeikou to Jinshanling Great Wall hike is available as a private hike. Recently we have been doing this hike as Jinshanling Great Wall to Gubeikou Great Wall so we don’t all have to go through the Hebei-Beijing border checkpoint on the way home from Jinshanling.
You’ll see a broad range of scenery and Great Wall on this long hike through the mountains on Beijing’s northwest border. With the wall built along low ridges in between taller mountains, you’ll have long views of the Great Wall running up into the hills in front and behind as you hike—perfect for your photos.
At Gubeikou, you’ll see a mix of untouched and lightly-repaired Ming Dynasty Great Wall, with broken sections revealing the construction techniques used.
At Jinshanling, you’ll see a superb example of first-class Ming Dynasty Great Wall: large, closely-spaced towers on well-repaired brick Great Wall that runs up and down steep ridges.
The hike
The hike begins at the Gubeikou section of the Great Wall in Miyun County, very close to the border of the Beijing Municipality and Hebei Province. Even though it’s designated as a park, this section of the Great Wall is largely unrestored. It’s not often visited either, probably because it is so far away from central Beijing.
It would be nice to walk on the Wall all the way to Jinshanling, but part of it borders military land and that section of it is blocked off. This means taking a detour through Spider Valley!
When we first hiked this trail, the bushy path through Spider Valley was draped with cobwebs and we saw many a big fat spider sitting in the middle of their web. These days, there are fewer spiders. On the way through Spider Valley, we’ll walk by an abandoned house, wells, and water stores, as well as the occasional cobweb.
Once we’re out of Spider Valley we’ll start getting into the fields that surround Hemp Village. There are about 100 people living in this valley, surrounded by hills on all sides. They mostly grow corn in this area, but in the right season you can spot hemp and tobacco, and there are donkeys, cows, chickens, and dogs around as well.
Before we arrive at the main part of Hemp Village we’ll make a turn-off and head back up towards the Wall, following a trail up the valley. It will take about forty minutes to get up there, and parts of it get a bit steep. There are good views at the top – Gubeikou Wall one way, Jinshanling Wall the other – and we’ll stop for a snack and a bit of rest before heading down to Jinshanling.
Along the way to Jinshanling we’ll get a different view of the wall, walking a trail by the base of the Mongolia side, and making a few tricky ascents and descents on the way to the archway that will get us back on top. This section is the west side of the Jinshanling Great Wall.
We’ll be following the Jinshanling Great Wall from west to east, starting off on the unrestored section before heading down into the main restored area. We’ll head straight through the restored area, and on towards the Simatai Great Wall.
Once we reach the end of the Jinshanling section, we’ll be able to get good views of much of the Simatai Great Wall, including the steep eastern ridge where the famously hard-to-reach Sky Bridge and Fairy Tower are located.
After a little look over that way, we’ll leave the wall and head down a paved park trail. This trail leads down a valley, and after about thirty minutes we’ll arrive at the bottom and meet our bus.
