The Great Wall of China: Hiking & Camping!

The two days we spent exploring remote portions of The Great Wall were some of the most awe-inspiring, challenging and beautiful days of our 21 days in China! We started day one on the Jiankou portion of the wall and then to the Huanghuacheng that night. We hiked in the dark and set up a tent to camp on the wall, waking up the next morning to gorgeous songs of bugs and wind passing through the mist the next morning. After packing up the camp site, we hiked the Huanghuacheng section for the rest of the day. I highly recommend visiting these gorgeous pieces of the wall and experiencing history far from tourists. It's truly unforgettable.

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**Equipment Used**
Check out the gear I used to make this video in the Amazon Affiliate links below:
DJI Mavic Air (Horribly buggy in China, not recommended)
iPhone 7+

Music:
Flying Over Icebergs by Ilya Marfin from Icons8

[dedeeaminah]

I just cant imagine how the workers had to climb the mountain and brought all the bricks up there to built the great wall...how the warriors had to go up there real fast when enemies came to attack...just unimaginable....salut to the ancient chinese

[Alexoferith]

I am nearly 60 yrs old now. When I was at your age, foreigners were not allowed to go on the Great Wall that was not opened for visit because of obvious reasons. Your video is short of breathtaking. Such a historic monument! And you camped on it! Wow! I can only say thank you for sharing this experience of yours. Thank you.

[bethroesch]

When she got emotional, I felt that. To be able to be there, to actually touch something so ancient and still marvelous. It would be overwhelming. To imagine what it was like to build it. It's so incredible.

[wolfgangholtzclaw]

Thanks Claire for a wonderful video. I am 66 years old and have been to China once, passing through on my way back from the Philippines. I have always wanted to visit the Great Wall for several reasons. It represents China in a time when they probably were the Superior Nation on the entire planet. While they dined on dainties prepared throughout an organized empire, unwashed Europeans ate with their hands. Julius Caesar enjoyed wearing a crimson silk tunic, and many of the garments of later Popes were filled with silk. China represents Intellect, culture, power, harmony, and fear of change. Today people still marvel at the wall built on the backs of countless peasants, soldiers, and prisoners who had no real appreciation for it. They only endured the daily grind. And the last word is the best. The Chinese have endured the unfolding of hundreds of centuries with great patience. I don't think them war like, as much as I think of them minding their principalities. They are most huge in population, but so peaceful in person. I suppose rather than fear them, we should study them and understand mankind over time in a single place always being. The views are superb and I really enjoyed the video. I hope many things wonderful come for you and your life friend. Peace and love, and being a Christian... peace and love in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!!

[olivierma]

Watching videos like this, and walking every inch of it, you are truly reminded that that bloody thing is thousands of miles long, standing atop of mountains, and it's been there for thousands of years! Incredible!

[ケロキー]

"One who fails to reach the Great Wall is not a hero", and you two got it!

[AlvinYap]

When you think about the total length of different sections of Great Wall is 21, 196km, it's just unbelievable. It takes generations and multiple dynasties effort to build this. Thank you for letting us see the more ancient and less restored part of the Great Wall. It's eye opening

[jerrysimpson]

My family and I had the pleasure to visiting China about ten years ago and one of our most unique ventures while there was going to the Great Wall of China and walk some of the passage ways. Your video brought back many memories about how much of the wall has broken down into pieces making not an easy hike through some of the area. Even then it was amazing to see and realize that here we were walking along some of the passage ways on the Great Wall of China. To see in person is so amazing that there no way any photos or videos can show all there is to see. To even try and conceive how it was even possible to build something as this. To see the wall going through the mountain ways up and down the hills and at times some appearing to be going into the clouds way up high as if it was a passage way into Heaven. It really is one of the most unique wonders of the world! Thanks for sharing your video.

[KATTUNmainichi]

I climbed this in my 20s with my family and it was epic. Going up was hard but coming down was even harder. My arms and legs were just shaking the whole time.

[foxithaca]

In my first semester at college, I went for a hike from Jiankou to Mutianyu with 3 friends. We spent about half a day to finish. That experience was my closet to death. We had a large portion of the path with only a width of two bricks to set foot on. You have bushes on one side and the cliff on the other. I also remember a point you have to hold an iron bar to swing your body over the cliff. We completely stopped talking in the last few hours as a result of fatigue, fear, and stress. We run out of water and food, but we finally made it to the Mutianyu.

[roger]

I've watched so many videos about the great wall but this is the best so far 🤝👍

[lucassu]

As a Beijinger, I can tell you that Jiankou is definitely the most dangerous part of the Great Wall in Beijing, and it will be repaired according to the latest protection plan. So if anyone who are willing to feel the rough wildness of ancient China and touch the original beauty of the Great Wall, take an action now!

[clementlee]

Now image hundreds and even thousands of years ago how terribly difficult it is to build such a thing.

[iainmac]

Massive RESPECT for the people who built this.

[zupermaus]

One of the best Wall vids Ive seen, that shot at 13:10 is just jawdropping. Basically you're not walking a wall so much as climbing a mountain -can't believe you did that with baggage and holding a camera. Some of the most vertiginous shots throughout this. Thankyou so much!

[rinzinnamgyal]

While hikers getting exhausted by climbing jus imagine how much energy n effort paid by workers... Wonderful will power and determination... absolutely insane 👏👏

[kongmei]

I am Chinese. You are doing very well. There are a lot of Chinese people who don't have this quality. But I have to say that this has a lot to do with their level of education. This situation is also improving now, and the new generation is paying more and more attention to environmental issues. So, welcome to visit China.

[darrenlee]

The will power of our ancestors is so powerful.

[haoruchen]

It makes remembering my last climb to the wall in 2008 with my family. That’s more than a decade ago so much is changed. We maybe never going up there again, but it marks our life.

[NowhereGames]

How my grandparents describe their walk to school in their day