Sleeping and hiking on The Great Wall of China at Gubeikou

The goats were guarding the wall - four took posts in each of the two windows of the tower remains, one climbed to the very top outpost for the view and five were protecting the entrance. The tower seemed impenetrable to attack. I carefully approached and goats exchanged their positions couple of times as they estimated my weaknesses. It turned out that a full regimen of 30 goats is guarding the tower! 

This is just a short note about my second great experience from The Great Wall of China. Last time I hiked for three days from Huanhuacheng to Mutinyu - it was demanding and rewarding trip. This time I went to Gubeikou. This was less of a long hike and more of a just exploring and climbing alone around one spot - Wohushan mountain. I slept in one of the towers and I can absolutely recommend the location!

I took a train 4471 from Xizhimen(Beijing North Railway station) - it leaves every day at 9:12 and costs ¥12. Ask for a ticket to Liushuigou. While it is probably the slowest train in the world as took around 5 hours to get to Gubeikou and stopped all the time it was totally worth it! The landscape in the second part of the trip is just amazing. You get a ride along the wall, through the wall, around hills, and rivers. And also the local will want to talk to you.

For some reason they did not let me out of the train in Gubeikou - I don't speak Mandarin so I could not really understand the reason. I got off 2 kilometers further in Liushuigou. And it was actually perfect. I did not go to Gubeikou but directly went to the wall, up the hill :-) - just go on the road from the station to the left instead of to the right. You will go on a dirt road along small fields of corn. You will reach the wall behind Wohushan and here you can have fun for one afternoon. The towers are in perfect state for sleeping - just take a mat and a sleeping bag. There was no one for the whole time and I had amazing cloudy atmosphere. Amazing! 

On the way back, I simply hitched one of the toast-bread cars at Gubeikou to Myiun for ¥15 and then took bus 980 to Beijing for ¥14.  

Again, I recommend checking out greatwallforum.com. There are many more options in the area!