Hiking photos - Rolling Hills, 2010/01/17

This route is one of our favorites and takes us through some beautiful scenery in Miyun County. The vistas are quite different than other hikes in Miyun that take place in the mountains to the west and north of the reservoir. Our Sunday ramble had us trekking over a gently undulating pastoral landscape. We passed through farming villages, fields, and forests. Most of the hike was over flat ground, although there were a few sections where we climbed very gradual inclines. We covered a fair distance, about 14 kilometers, as the walking was relatively easy. It was the warmest it’s been in weeks, and we were all quite comfortable as we walked. The last section of the hike had us skirting along the rim of a ring-shaped ridge that forms a bowl. We came down off of it, and after being greeted by a flock of goats being driven into the hills, we warmed up at a local country inn with tea, beer, and bowls of soup.

Statistics: Approx. 4.25 hours in total, with 3.5 hours of walking over approx. 14km; start height 113m, finish height 101m, highest point 237m (on the hills near the end). Total ascent 360m, total descent approx. 372m. Estimated 1433kCal burned.