Hiking photos - Mr. Mao’s Chestnut Orchard, 2011/04/06
At the start of this hike in Huairou County north of Beijing, our group met Mr. Mao, our guide, near a village and started hiking toward a ridge. The hike is short, but still includes a decent uphill climb which soon brought us on top of a ridge from whence we enjoyed fantastic views of the surrounding hills.
As we made our way up the ridge, we encountered a variety of different natural phenomena which were explained by our resident naturalist, Betsy Taylor.
We continued hiking along the top of the ridge and later descended into a shady valley. We had some snacks there before continuing to the end of the hike. After having a hearty, filling lunch at a restaurant in a village not far from the base of a section of Great Wall, some members of the group hiked up a nearby section of the Great Wall for about 20 minutes to take in more of the fantastic scenery before heading back into the city.
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Donkeys are still used in the countryside as pack animals.
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In some parts of the countryside donkeys seem to be more commonly used than mechanized forms of transport and farm machinery.
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Many of the locals also raise goats.
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The numerous fruit trees in bloom were beautiful.
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There were many barren orchard terraces nearby.
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In spite of the dry winter, some of the fruit trees had already started blooming.
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Many hikers found the flowering trees to be one of the highlights of the hike.
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In spite of the hazy skies that day, there were good views of distant peaks.
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Betsy Taylor, our resident naturalist, was there to explain some things about the flora and fauna of the area.
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In this region cherry, peach, and apricot trees are in bloom.
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The second part of the hike took the group from the top of a ridge down along the bottom of a valley.
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There was also a variety of different types of small flowers blooming along the trail.
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The group taking a rest and snack break on the valley floor.
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Beijing Hikers’ guide Yanjing carrying a cut log for one of the villagers.
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Even in April there were still a few areas at the bottom of the valley with thick ice and snow.
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Frog eggs on the way to developing into tadpoles. They could be found in some of the small ponds in the valley.
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A string of bright yellow flowers brightens up the dry landscape.
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Magnolia flowers in bloom.