Prove Your Loyalty
A Pinggu District ramble that follows wooded trails, passes abandoned villages, and crosses short rundown stretches of Great Wall.
This hike is not currently scheduled
The mountains in the north of Pinggu District are big enough to hold villages up in hidden valleys. Many of these villages are partially abandoned due to lack of water, or because the valleys have been leased by businessmen hoping to turn the area into a park.
Our walk begins from the entrance of one of these parks – we’ll stop to buy tickets for you, and then head on in, passing the big hotel they’ve built. Maybe this time there will be some people staying at the hotel! On previous visits we’ve only seen hotel staff hanging about.
We start off following a concrete path up the valley and into the hills. It’s a scenic walk up the valley, and the path is bordered by trees and hills, with large rocks and boulders that are said to have a volcanic origin.
Further up the valley we’ll start to see some of the old villages – there are quite a few hidden in the hills, and some shouldn’t really even count as villages, with just a few houses clumped together.
After passing through some of the smaller settlements, we’ll reach a larger hamlet – perhaps ten houses, and a big water store. Up until this point the hike will have been fairly easy, a long gentle climb on good footing. But from this village, we head up into the hills, following a fairly rough hill trail up to the remains of some Great Wall.
We’ll climb up on to the wall and stop for a lunch break. If you’ve got a bit of extra energy we’ll take you up to the remains of a big round tower – just a pile of stones now, but perhaps part of the wall that the villagers were forced to pull down.
After we’re all rested we’ll head on, following a trail that’s half on the wall, half off the wall. This area is all forested and fairly overgrown, and sometimes we need to scout around a bit to see where we’re supposed to be walking!
We follow the general path of the wall until we reach the valley that marks our turn off, following an old field path through fallow, terraced fields, passing abandoned stone houses on the way to a concrete road that marks the upper bounds of another of the parks in the hills.
We’ll pass modern buildings that look like they were supposed to be part of a hotel, and then finish our hike with a walk out through a long, dark tunnel – it might be a good idea to bring a torch along for this part of the hike.
At the other end of the tunnel we’ll find our bus, and after a Beijing Hikers-style picnic we’ll board and head back to the city.
What to bring on this hike
- Lunch and snacks
- Sun protection: long-sleeved shirt, hat
- A bottle of sports drink with salt content (Gatorade, Pocari Sweat)
- Strong and comfortable hiking boots
- (Click here to read our full What to Bring on a Hike list)
Reasons you might not enjoy this hike
- The trail is seldom-used and will be bushy in places.
COVID-19 and participation precautions
The current precautions are minimal. Please read in full here: Operating hikes under COVID-19 precautions
