My brother Steven I had seen pretty much everything about the city over the last couple days and we both decided it was time to venture out to visit the great wall. However, we did not want to see the touristy sections of the Great Wall, so we opted for the Jiankou section, because it is well known for amazing panoramic views, unrestored wall and lack of tourists.

As one of the most dangerous sections, famous for its steep and difficult paths, Jiankou section is very hard to handle, no matter how well prepared you are. The more dangerous it is, the more challenged we both were! Unlike the other sections of the Great Wall where a cable car or a smooth path leads you up the hill, the Jiankou section is quite left to nature, zigzagging upon rugged mountains with almost no sign of travelers or locals. After walking for a bit and taking a few different turns we finally managed to get to the starting point at Jiankou Great Wall. After about an hour of hiking along the wall, the path led us to some ruins left of the watch tower, and we snapped tons of photos with the sunrise. The trek on the wall, though challenging, was not overly strenuous, because we were not in a rush but took our time to move along.

Every time we passed some sections that we found impressive we would stop for some pictures and take in the panoramic views as well. The sight of the snaking wall meandering upon craggy mountains was really much of a marvel to the eyes. We were both glad we made it here, otherwise we would not catch such an amazing view! The section of the wall we hiked was mostly completely fallen apart, sprawling with crumbling bricks and overgrown with weeds. Along the way besides the fascinating views we also checked out a bunch of long abandoned watch towers, and sometimes we would climb up some solid ones to get a better view of the horizon.

After hours of hiking on the wall at Jiankou section, we finally made our way to the Mutianyu section. And by the time we got there hardly any travelers out there. We picked up our pace and got down the wall with a ride on the grass track and made our way back in town around 5:30. Really a fun-filled excursion! Just loved every minute of it!