This wall is steep. Be in semi decent shape. Great pictures, absolutely worth seeing. There’s a “difficult” route and a “very difficult” route. Wear comfy shoes- the incline on the wall is serious. We saw someone pass out.

That said. Thrilled we did it. It’s much further from Beijing than other parts of the wall, and the drive out through the country is pleasant. The wall itself is glorious. This part hasn’t been as “refinished” as others, which I liked. Also, guard tower 7 looks just like guard tower 2. Don’t feel like you have to climb to it.

We had done this hike on a lovely sunny day in early June. We hired a private driver who took us to the village at the beginning of the trek (a little over an hours drive from our hotel). There was a sign in the village which stated that this was not for tourists in order to preserve the wall, but I think our driver helped us out as he walked some of the way with us. We hiked with our toddler in tow (she was in a hiking backpack which my husband carried!), the hike took us between 4-5 hours with a few little stops on the way to admire the scenery. Our fitness levels are mediocre at best, but we're basically built for walking on flat surfaces, yet we managed to do this hike. My advice is go if you have an average level of fitness and make sure you're not prone to injuries (the ground is not flat, watch your knees and ankles). There is also a climb up a wall at the beginning once you get to the walled section (I included a shot of the little climb).

The beginning of the hike starts in the village, which is fairly steep (and relatively unmarked aside from the previous trekker trail - but easy enough to follow). It's through a forest canopy and is just wide enough to fit single file. The trail is dirt and rock, so may be slippery from wet leaves. This hike through the forest was tough, it was steep and you need to be prepared to brush branches and bugs away from you (bring insect repellent for this part). I can't remember but it may have taken us 1.5 hours to get through that bit, as you get higher, you get a beautiful view of sections of the wall.

Once you reach the end of the forest hike, you get to the beginning of the walled section. I've read in some posts that some people have ladders to climb up the beginning part, however on the day we went, we relied on a small pile of rocks - see pic (I mean a tiny pile of rocks stacked up to just get you high enough to touch the top) to climb up about 2.5-3 metres (there were 2 consecutive parts like this). It was impossible to climb up with a toddler, thankfully we had strangers who pitched in by pulling our toddler up first (thank you whoever you are!!). I'm 5ft 2, so I had to use my arms to hoist myself a little bit extra to get there. The view from this part is amazing (really great photo opportunity).

The rest of the walk is relatively easy compared to the forest hike, but my caution is that the beginning section of the wall is not maintained (see pictures). Some parts of the wall are a little dangerous (loose footing and no walls), but with common sense you can get through fine (it's relatively flat). We skipped the Oxhorn section of the great wall because it was probably a little too difficult with the little one in tow. We did this by turning off at one of the watch towers (I think either the second or third from the beginning of the wall). This path is marked by some pink / red ribbons, you just stay on the wall until you see a watch tower marked by these ribbons and follow them (it isn't extremely obvious, as the ribbons are sparingly placed, but follow along the pathway to bypass the Oxhorn. Once you reach the renovated sections of the wall its a matter of conquering some steps (there is a steep stairway which we had to pay the ticket fair of app 60yuan each). You can see my picture for an ideas of how steep the stairs are (just before the stairs you need to step over a wall to get through). This renovated part of the wall eventually leads to the cable car which we caught (I cannot remember the price, but it was expensive).

At the end of the cable car ride, you need to buy a bus ticket to travel back to the waiting area. It was relatively cheap (10/20 yuan each), but I cannot remember the price and the ticket booth we missed along the way, so keep your eyes peeled.

All in all, it was well worth the trip. We chose to skip Badaling and do this section instead, and it was worth it. It wasn't crowded - you can take photos without people in the background (we went on a weekend). There were enough people along the way to reassure you that you won't get injured and be without help. Make sure you bring water and snacks (and obviously, there are no bathrooms along the way and no bins). There was a little make shift tent on the older sections of the wall where there was a lady selling water, but I do believe most people passed her by.

Believe me, we're not fit, but we could do it!! We also did Mt Huangshan and in my opinion that was much harder because it was stairs on a steep incline. Our daughter was fine with hat and sunscreen and we even let her out for a little walk on the maintained section (where we saw some elderly and younger children walk).

Enjoy the walk, start out early and finish just after lunch time.