The Great Flood

Follow a hiking trail that joins two river canyons, crossing at a pass in the Miyun mountains.

Level 4
4 hours start to finish over 13km (Can I do it?)

This hike is not currently scheduled

Contact us for schedule updates or set up a private hike

Hike up a boulder-filled river canyon
The rocky canyon on the first part of the Great Flood hike.

Dragon Boat Festival holiday hikes—We're leaving early to get ahead of the holiday traffic, but we still may get stuck in a jam at some stage. Bring a book or something else to keep yourself entertained, just in case!

We almost named this hike "The Goat’s Trail" after the many herds of goats we saw while scouting the route. Along the way we will pick a path up a bouldery canyon, follow rivers, climb a steep valley, walk through grassy meadows, and see a village that was abandoned after a particularly large flood and is now being resettled.

We'll start from the Bai Village in Miyun County, and follow a nearby river upstream. In the past this river must have been very powerful – the dry riverbed is wide in places, and there are a lot of big boulders and steep drops. A decent sized stream still runs down the middle of the riverbed, and it would be quite hard to follow our trail if the water level rose. There's not much chance of that, though – Beijing is too dry these days!

After thirty to forty minutes of walking we will leave the river and head uphill on a valley trail. From here until the pass through the saddle at the top of the mountain we'll be in prime goat-spotting territory, a popular place for the shepherds to bring their herds because of the thick grass and foliage in the valley.

The climb is quite steep in places, and we will stop for a rest a few times on the way up. The trail is well-shaded by all the leaves of the trees, but it gets bushy and humid in summer.

Trees and terraces overgrown with grass and weeds

The trail down from the terrace is bushy and overgrown in summer. View a larger photo

Once we reach the saddle we'll head down the other side of the mountain to the Duijiahe Village. This side of the mountain is quite different to the other side – it’s not as bushy, and looks more like pasture. There are still plenty of goats on this side, as well as a very small quarry. Several unsplit boulders remain in the quarry and we can see on them evidence of the technique used to break off slabs for building walls and houses.

The trail through the pasture leads to the riverside village of Duijiahe. Duijiahe was a small settlement, and was abandoned after the flood destroyed the road. For a long while it was inhabited by just one man and his dogs.

Repairs to the road were made in 2010, and it's now possible to drive a small van all the way up to the village. A much better state of affairs than before, when it was only possible to deliver supplies by donkey.

After a look around the village we'll follow the river downstream to our finishing point. As we walk we'll see evidence of the flood – washed-out roads and bridges, and eroded cliff sides. We'll also be able to see Great Wall towers on the cliffs and ridges, including the Round Tower from one of our other hikes. There is also a cliff where we sometimes see people abseiling down a waterfall.

What to bring on this hike

Reasons you might not enjoy this hike

  • The middle part of the hike could be overgrown and bushy.
  • The last few kilometres of the hike are on the repaired road.
  • This could count as an easy Level 4, if that matters.

COVID-19 and participation precautions

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

Related content

Photos and trip reports: The Great Flood

  1. Great Flood hike, 2022/07/02

    Great Flood hike, 2022/07/02

    No one had hiked this track for more than a year, and the first half of the walk featured overgrown trails, slippery rocks and washouts, and aggressive hornets. It opened up on the other side of the hill, thank goodness. See sixteen photos.
  2. Great Flood hike, 2021/10/16

    Great Flood hike, 2021/10/16

    This hike involves a lot of boulder-hopping and track finding, this time especially so after trail damage caused by the heavy rains during summer—see 18 photos of rocks, boulders, streams, and cliffs on a big blue sky day
  3. Great Flood hike, 2019/10/20

    Great Flood hike, 2019/10/20

    The Great Flood hike takes us up one canyon, up and over a pass in the mountain, and then down and out a different canyon to finish—see 30 photos from the hike, including autumn colours, big boulders, and some damage from the summer floods.

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