The Zhenbiancheng to Big Camp Plate hike is one of our best long trails, following a rough line of early Ming Dynasty Great Wall through the mountains northwest of Beijing.

The day started out foggy, but a big wind came along to blow the skies clear – click though to check out a set of 35 photos from the hike.

On September 9 we completed the fourth edition of our Hike Fest, again with the 24km/30km Challenge, and the 10km Hike for Fun.

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The White River hike is one of our favourite summer walks – the views are excellent, and you can cool down by splashing about in the water.

The only problem is that summer in Beijing is also the most rainy time of the year, which sometimes spoils the river walks – either it rains, or the river level is too high to be safe.

No such problem on this visit! Click through to see the photos!

The weather was perfect for this walk on the Great Wall at Huanghuacheng – blue skies, green hills, and great views of the wall and natural scenery.

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We’ve got a few trails on the wall in this area, and on this hike we did the version that makes a loop from Stone Valley village, hiking up roads and paths to find the Great Wall, and then following the wall back towards the village to finish.

The scenery was superb on this visit – lush, green hills, and long views of the Great Wall and surrounding mountains.

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We headed out to the Jiankou for a Level 3-rated walk on the rough line of wall on the west side of the Jiankou basin. The hills were green and lush, and we were also lucky with the weather – after a cool and cloudy start, the skies cleared to blue but it didn’t get much hotter.

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In hot weather we like to organise hikes where there’s a chance to cool off, and we know a swimming hole in Yunmeng Gorge that is just perfect.

On this visit we hiked in and set up by the pool, and we also did a short hike to see more of the scenery inside the gorge.

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It was raining the whole time during our drive to the wall, and we were a bit worried about the hike. In the end, no need to worry – the rain stopped just after we arrived, and we enjoyed a walk on the Great Wall. After the rain the temperatures stayed cool, and the views of the wall were enhanced by all the low clouds.

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The Shuitou Loop hike is a trail that starts and finishes at the old barracks of Zhenbiancheng. The loop trail takes us over the hills to Shuitou Village, an old farming settlement that is slowly developing, and then back over the Great Wall and down a forested valley to complete the circuit.

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After a rainy week in Beijing we were happy to see clear skies forecast for our walk on the wall between Jiankou and Mutianyu.

The views were great – blue skies, green hills, and long views of the wall. Click through to see the photos!

Merck Group had their regional conference in Beijing, and they asked us to help them bring the team to the Great Wall for a look at Chinese history.

We put together a hike on the Gubeikou Great Wall, showing them all the key features along the way, plus an historically-themed treasure hunt in and around the temples of Gubeikou Village.

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We do quite a few Level 3+ hikes in this area. Today we were taking on the toughest version, walking the whole stretch of the Switchback Great Wall instead of just the first section.

We rate it a Level 4 usually, but with the hot weather it could have rated a Level 5.

The wall in this area has some very steep sections—big climbs that feel tough in normal conditions felt extra tough in the heat.

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The Tengger Desert is one of our favourite places to go outside of Beijing. As well as being able to trek, camp, and ride camels and jeeps way into the depths of the desert, you can also get a look at the pyramid-shaped tombs of the Western Xia Dynasty.

This visit was a private trip for a group of friends from Chengdu. Click through to see all the photos!

Nearby the Huanghuacheng Great Wall is an old walled village, which was once a barracks for Ming Dynasty soldiers. Somewhat strangely, it’s outside of the wall.

On this hike we start with a look about the village, and then climb up to one of the peaks of the Huanghuacheng Great Wall. We then follow the wall through the hills to finish by the Huanghuacheng reservoir.

Click through to see 14 photos from the hike!

We went out to Qinghai last year for a scouting trip and put together a trip that covers the large variety of sights and places in the area—the sights of nature, like Qinghai Lake and the snow mountains of the Qilian Range; and historically important places like Kumbum Monastery.

Click through to see 65 photos from the trip we did at the end of May.