Walking the Wild Wall
Beyond the restored sections lies a crumbling, empty, unforgettable Great Wall.
The Wall runs the ridgelines at Jinshanling.
Mira Anand
Roving Writer
- Un-restored 'wild wall'
- Watchtower-to-watchtower ridge walk
- Near-total solitude midweek
Everyone pictures the Great Wall as a tidy grey ribbon full of tour groups. That is Badaling. Go three hours from Beijing instead, to Jinshanling, and you find something far stranger and better.
The Wall as ruin
Here the Wall climbs and plunges along knife-edge ridges, much of it un-restored — trees growing through the ramparts, whole sections returning to the mountain.
Walk an hour from the entrance and you may not see another soul for the rest of the day.
In that emptiness the scale finally registers. Bring proper boots, plenty of water, and start early. The light at the end of the day, raking along the ridgelines, is worth every aching step.
Jinshanling, China
Mira chases stories across the Himalaya and Southeast Asia, from high mountain passes to midnight noodle stalls.
