Hin's 4th C.O.U.N.T. 1,000,000 steps (Sep 22nd – Oct 16th, 2012)

​

8. The old cat is back.
 

Thean Hin Ooi <ooithin@gmail.com>   Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 11:49 AM

Dear All,

After a long delay by AAsia X, we left Beijing in the early morning (4:40am, 21 Oct) reaching KL 11:00am, enough time for a quick KFC then bus to 1Utama.

This old cat/horse is back, minus 1 life, diced with a few, 4 toe and 1 finger nails bloodied, blue-black bruises on thighs and bum, burnt ears, stiff, bent-over back, dried weight at 60.5kg (lost 3.5kg) and waist 79.5cm (31" - lost 1.5").

I must say this is the most arduously difficult and challenging trek (more like climb) in my 4 years of walking the Ming Great Wall. Even after 23 hard days. couldn't complete the C.O.U.N.T 1,000,000 steps, just ran out of time, steam and the last 2 days of rain cut short our initial overly optimistic objective.

The bonus, of course, was my very good friend PW's treats to sumptuous Japanese, Korean meals in Dalian, Manchurian and 2 Beijing Roast duck meals in Beijing, where we had the 2,057,018th roast duck at the famed Quanjude Roast Duck restaurant.

The last few days upon reaching the Beijing provincial border, we were greeted by the misty, scary rugged mountains, and like the ancient days, there was police checks entering the province.

11/10  06:15 - 16:50  4th Road Goutai junction – Dashuiwacun. 16.7 km, 31,292 steps, TA 624m, ME 1,470m.

Bright misty start at the 4th Road Goutai junction, with the rising sun, surrounding the large Baihepu Reservoir. Real challenging and unpredictable mountains, with some dangerous moments when the walls end at cliff drops of 50-100m. Couldn’t cross the huge wall cliff to Beiyinjia Gouli. Took us nearly 0.5 day just to get down from the mountain top, exiting towards the village of Nanbozi, and ending at Dashuiwacun. We then drove to Henglingzi village climbing towards Dabaicun, attempting to access the Lujiagou wall. Stayed the night at a motel by the Baihepu reservoir.

12/10  06:25 - 19:30.  Xiaochuan - 40°37'40.58"N 116°09'06.55"E S212 Changchi Road. 27.8 km, 52,723 steps, TA 1,241m, ME 1,163m.

Another misty day, ascending the wall from Xiaochuan village, a very tough climb to the wall and virtually walked the stone wall the whole day. We pushed hard through the gap at Mt Ciguocun, barely reaching the valley near Zhuangkecun, 5mins before the sun set. Walked more than 4km to the highway, in total darkness past pockets of “protected” villages such as Nanyaocun, Gaojiayaocun, Sandaogaocun and Baihebao, taking in the wonderful sparkling stars in the milky way. Back to Baihepu motel for the night.

13/10  06:30 - 17:15.  Zhuangkecun -  Yanliu Road 323. 17.6 km, 33,587 steps, TA 1,385m, ME 1,258m.

Bright warm clear day 12-20°C. with an early ascend of 400m to the wall, starting at Zhuangkecun. Dangerous mountain ending in cliff drops, which stopped us from continuing to Madaoliangcun. Had to take long detour 2 times before we found a safe path down another mountain, reaching Yanliu Road 323. Hailed and hop on a bus to the nearest village Liubinbaoxiang (Yanqing), where CH picked us up and went to the town of Yanqing, had a delicious hotpot chicken and stayed the night at a reasonably good hotel.

14/10  07:20 - 16:20. Xiaojixiangcun – Zhenzhuquanxiang. 10.2 km, 21,632 steps, TA 806m, ME 958m.

Approached the wall from Xiaojixiangcun side and had a good start. It got tough with continuous roller-coaster hike, made worse by having to walk the loose rocks, with bushes and thorns along the wall. Loosing steam after >20 days of trying difficult walk. Ended at Zhenzhuquanxiang, 1 of 25 folk villages being renovated catering to the Beijing week-end tourists. Beautiful stretch to experience farm life, fresh air, biking, mountain and river hikes. Back to Yanqing for the night.

15/10  06:45 - 14:20. Sihaizhen - Dongbeikouquan. 8.8 km, 14,988 steps, TA 826m, ME 1,303m.

Started from the village of Sihaizhen with the day's aim to reach the famed 9-eyed tower (九眼楼 Jiǔ yǎn lóu), into the wild wall of Jiankou (箭口) and end at the village of Xizhazi (西栅子). After another very tough climb, hike, having to round numerous natural barriers, reached the road at Dongbeikouquan (东北口) - the north-east entrance into the Beijing wall. Unfortunately rain came and we felt it was too risky to hike the 8.5km. Took a drive along the scenic valley surrounded by rugged mountains, with many holiday resorts and decided to stay at the Lotus Thai Resort - beautiful rooms with hanging laced mosquito nets over the beds, but the food was expensive and bad. We shall complete our walk to Jiankou the following day.

16/10 09:40 - 11:05. Jiankou. 2.3 km, 6,361 steps, TA 219m, ME 823m.

Overnight heavy and morning rain meant we had to wait 4 hours for it slow down to a drizzle, before we slowly made our way to the village area of Xizhazi, It was just too wet and slippery. We managed to trek up to the well preserved brick wall and had a wonderful and awesome view of the Jiankou section. This equally challenging section shall be the start for the 5th C.O.U.N.T 1,000,000 steps next year.

Went to nearby Huairou (怀柔 - just 30km from Beijing), checked out the hotel and transportation (bus 916 - 1.5 hrs) to/from Beijing. We shall return in 2013!

​

Total 426 km. 774,545 steps.

​