With snaking and scenic country sides, hiking the Great Wall away from the regular tourist trap is the best way to experience one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Hiking enthusiasts have options from quick couple hour treks to multiple day tours. Special care and planning was done to select the most battle hardened parts of the wall showing the original and restored sections. With original sections showing the ancient now crumbling condition, special features, and winding precipitous mountain ridges in the far distance, makes this tour highly unique. Highlighted sections would include:
 Yellow Flower Great Wall
 Jinshanling to Simata
 Jiankou to Mutianyu
 Xiangshuihu to Beijing knot
* High quality camping gear is supplied and managed by PixieAdventures.
www.pixieadventures.com

The Great Wall of China needs no introduction, but anyway: it stretches 6,700 km from the Yellow Sea to the Gobi Desert. It was originally constructed (the first sections built around the 7th-6th century BC) as independent walls between different states; later, it was consolidated to repel Mongol invaders. The last bit of construction happened between the 14th and 17th centuries A. D.

The section closest to Beijing is Badaling, approximately 70km away. There are other sections too, most notably at Simatai and Mutianyu, but they’re farther out, Simatai being 3 hours one way. I’d been warned that Badaling was commercial, crowded, and not authentic (it was reconstructed in the 20th century, so what you see is modern). Mutianyu, we decided; but we missed the last bus to Mutianyu simply because our guide book had the timings wrong. We couldn’t think of not seeing the Wall – and we were down to the last day of our trip – so Badaling it was.

We bought tour bus tickets (90 RMB per person, including return fare and entry) at the Beijing Sightseeing Tour Center at Qianmen, and got into one of the buses that leave every ten minutes for Badaling. Our tour guide was an efficient girl who quickly began her spiel – unfortunately only in Chinese. Thankfully, she knew enough English to be able to give us vital information: where to find the bus once we’d finished with the wall; what time to get back; and so on.

An hour or so later, we were in Badaling. It was as bad as everybody said it would be: shops, tour buses by the score, food courts, a huge Beijing Olympics 2008 sign across a hill. The worst part is that you can’t avoid it; the route up to the wall is lined all the way with commercial establishments. We refused offers of Chinese fans, fake jade, I climbed the Great Wall T-shirts and much more before finally making it to the Wall.

The Wall’s a combination of steps and ramps, grey stone and steep in places. Climbing isn’t much of a problem unless you’re woefully out of shape, but the descent can be dangerous. What bewildered me was the number of stiletto-wearing women who were gamely climbing up – and down. How do they manage it?

Fending off hawkers (they’re up there on the Wall, selling souvenirs, mineral water, even ices), we toiled up far enough to shake off most of the crowds. Some appreciative admiring of the view – the Wall is impressive – and then we edged our way down, holding on to the rusty railing along the parapets, stopping for a break at a watchtower. We were down at the bus parking with an hour to spare, which we (in classic touristy style) spent buying cheap trinkets as souvenirs.

Verdict: attempt the Wall at Badaling only if you have no choice. It’s the Great Wall of China, yes; but there’s a superficial and irritatingly commercial feel to it that’s hard to get rid of.

I was dreading the over commercialization of the Great Wall at Badaling, but hesitant to tackle the difficult trek from Simatai to Jin Shan Ling with my 76 year old father. Thankfully, our tour guide suggested the much less visited, but easily accessible Juyongguan.

Located 32 miles northwest of Beijing on the way to Badaling, Juyongguan was reportedly used as early as the Qin Dynasty when the First Emperor started the Great Wall. Juyongguan guarded one of the two crucial passes to Beijing and thus gained historical significance as the site of many battles involving Jurchen, Mongol and, Japanese invaders. For more click here.

In the central portion of the pass you will find two towers and a dedication by Mao stating that only "great heroes reach the Great Wall." This is no exaggeration. The wall stretches to the left and right along the ridge of incredibly steep mountains for 2.5 miles of wall. The left side was almost empty due to the steeper initial ascent even though it flattens out eventually. We opted for the less steep and more popular right side in spite of its relentless upward climb. Dad made it as far as the first tower. He decided to stay with the guide while I continued to the top. While the crowds thinned out the higher I went; I was never truly alone. And I was okay with that. Even the shop halfway up was a reminder of what it was like to build the wall –gallons of bottled water and boxes of t-shirts are nothing compared to the thousands of bricks necessary to build it.

The present Pass was initially built in the Ming Dynasty and was extensively restored between 1993 and 1997. To be honest, the restoration, like most we saw is a little too perfect and new looking. It wasn’t until the end of the reconstruction at the top that with trembling legs and a little imagination you could see what might be the remains of the wall continuing impossibly into green mountains. The surrounding the valley area was considered during the Jin Dynasty (AD 1115-1234) as one of the Eight Sceneries of Beijing. While it is not what it once was, it’s a relief after the grayness of Beijing.

The wall is open between 7:30 and 5:30 PM. We paid our guide $140 US for his time, the cab, and admission (normally $5US). Unless you have special needs I suggest you skip the tour guide and just hire a cab for the day. I could have done without the "visit" to the jade and cloisonné factories. Plus, the nearby Ming Tombs that are part of most itineraries were just not that memorable.

Still, I am thankful our guide took us to Juyongguan. We got to experience the Great Wall without the circus-like atmosphere of Badaling or the imminent threat of killing my father. In fact, it was the highlight of the trip for both my Dad and I.

We decided to take the more expensive option for this trip and travel by taxi, rather than a packed, boneshaker tour bus. We negotiated a day’s fare down to 500RMB and then sat back to enjoy the journey. Our driver spoke little English, but we managed to get by with gesticulation – the important thing was that he was a very careful driver, taking no risks and pointing out points of interest.

We chose to go to Badaling because this part of the wall had a cable car to and from its summit and has been well-restored. The down side is that this part of the wall is one of the most commercialised, and we would be guaranteed some heavy sells. It was an absolutely superb day visibility would be good. We relished our leisurely journey on the cable car (60RMB for a return journey), the wall profiled against the clear blue sky, but on occasions the ground seemed perilously close.

A short walk from the cable car and we were at the entrance for the Great Wall – one small problem we’d failed to buy our ticket from the small booth that’s tucked away to the left of the exit from the cable car. A gentle stroll later, we are climbing the staircase to top of the wall, and within seconds, we are standing on this structure. It snakes its way along the contours of this mountainous region and we were left truly amazed but wondering how defendable this huge border really was. I guess the true strength of the wall was its vastness and the statement it must have made to potential assailants. I certainly couldn’t resist imagining life in the guard towers firing off the odd arrow or two at marauding insurgents or setting off the first beacon to transmit a message back to the military headquarters. Indeed for a moment I pictured the distant hoard of oncoming tourists as backup troops. This place just encourages fantasies!

We hauled our way up to the top turret passing many a wheezing tourist as the struggled to negotiate various depth and width of step on the steep slopes of the wall. But the view from this upper vantage point is magnificent as the surrounding countryside is laid out in front of you like an intricate tapestry. Once we shrugged off the traders selling personally engraved plaques, scarves and T-shirts with slogans like "I walked the Great Wall," we were able to find a peaceful spot and pick out the wall’s looping manoeuvrings along the contours of the land.

The Great Wall had been on my "must-do" list for several years and as we paused for breath I realised that words to describe this wonder of the world were hard to find. I do remember reading that Richard Nixon had summarised his experience with the words "it sure is a great wall". I’m not sure I can top that!

If there is only one thing you see while in Beijing, it has to be the Great Wall of China. You can see thousands of photographs of the wall, but the true magnificence of it will not hit you until you see the wall that seems to have no end in person. I cannot imagine being one of the many laborers who had to build the wall over a thousand years ago, without the kinds of technology we have today. Day after day, hauling stones to the wall and fitting them together, so many died, and many are thought to be buried in the wall.

My group only had an hour to explore the wall, so I only went to the second lookout, but the view was amazing: countryside in all directions. Climbing the wall can be hard with all the steps and crowds. Chinese tourists wanting to take pictures of you can really slow you down. The two male African-American coaches on my trip did not get farther than 20 feet from the start because so many people wanted to take pictures with them.

Of course, before you leave, you can buy T-shirts and keychains saying you climbed the wall for very cheap. People in my group bargained the sellers down to $3 per shirt and two keychains for $1. Some found bargaining with the sellers to be great entertainment.