Longquanyu and Little West Lake Great Wall, 2015/10/24
Sixteen photos from a hike that covered a mix of wild and recently restored Great Wall.
We headed out to the hills north of the Ming Tombs for a hike that covered a mix of wild and recently restored Great Wall, with good views of hills, mountains, small villages, and the Little West Lake Reservoir.
We started out on a little hill trail that took us down into a small village, and then up to a short line of Great Wall that was fixed up in 2014. Before then, this part of the wall hadn’t been touched since the Ming Dynasty. (We liked it a little better before the repairs.)
Hiking up through a few of the towers, we reached a section as-yet unrestored. This section dead ends at a cliff; we took a hillside detour around that, and climbed some steeper ‘wild’ sections on the way to the restored Little West Lake line of wall.
After a quick stroll through the park, we made a steep climb to reach another line of wild Great Wall, which we followed along a ridgeline and then down to the end of the hike.

Blue skies and sunshine as we get ready to begin.

On the wall at Longquanyu, a partially restored section.

Looking back over the section we were climbing.

A view of where the wild wall dead ends at a cliff.

The tower here has been fixed up. The rest is untouched, as you can see by the excess of foliage.

The wall here is totally hidden by the trees.

Back on to a restored section, after pushing through the trees on the unrestored section.

The wall is steep here. This part was rather tricky before it was restored.

Coming down.

Into the Little West Lake park.

Great views by the water.

A suspension bridge in the park.

Getting ready for the big climb up to the next section of wall.

Made it! A long, tough climb.

The hike continued along unrestored Great Wall.

Descending through the orchards to finish the hike.