Hin's 5th C.O.U.N.T. 1,000,000 steps (Sep 20th – Oct 13th, 2013)

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2: Lotus Flower Pond?

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Thean Hin Ooi <ooithin@gmail.com>   Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 10:24 AM

Hi everyone,

The trek has been tougher than expected.

Waiting out the rain this whole morning and hoping to be able to start by noon.

Anyway, arrived at Beijing on 19th and laid over at airport, met up the 2 Singhas and later picked by our driver/guide CH together with Samurai and headed to Liulimiao about 30km from our starting point Dongbeikou for the night.

20th Sep 06:00 - 17:30  Dongbeikou – Shiyaocun. 10.3 km. MaxAccent 1396m, TotalAccent 396m.

Went up to the wall at Dongbeikou and it was the rocks/stones walls track as of last year. Extremely difficult dancing from one loose stone to the next, and before long, we were over-taken by the hopping Kangaroo and galloping Oldenburg. They started 2.5 hours behind us!. By 2:30pm we hit a cliff plunge and decided to go down the valley to the village Shiyao hitting the sundry shop at 4:30pm. The village is next to Jiuyanlou, but from there it would be another couple of hours trekking the wall, to the village of Xizhazi.

Called for transport, and CH sent second driver Mr Chou to fetch us - what a driver - blurred as the mist, we went 80km north of the Xizhazi village and with patient direction guiding, we managed to get back past midnight, very late supper. What a start to the journey, and of course, Mr Chou quickly became history the following day.

21st Sep 07:30 - 16:20  Jiushuikeng – Jiankou. 8.6 km. MA 1001m, TA 642m.

Later start this morning, Singhas, Samurai and I, went up the wall next to Jiuyanlou. Singha2 decided to take rest and went back down. Walked the fairly intact wall towards Jiankou7 path, clambering up the seemingly dangerous, almost vertical Tianti (Heavenly ladder) to Beijingjie. Beautiful breath-taking scenery and came back down to Xizhazi. Used the sports camera to record the climb, hope it will turn out OK (will check later). A very good day and as usual, the Kangaroo and Oldenburg were way ahead of us.

22nd Sep 05:35 - 15:40  Jiankou – Mutianyu – Lianhuachi. 11:55km, MA 1026m, TA 766m.

The international group (Singapore, Japan, Germany, Australia and Malaysia) started at the Jiankou5 entry point, made several precarious climbs to the top most towers, notably Zhengbeilou, accorded magnificent view of the Great wall and the valleys below. There were some hairy moments but together, we all pulled through to Mutianyu, where the Kangaroo returned to Beijing. The rest of us continued onto the Lianhuachi (Lotus Flower pond) village, with more exciting moments traversing the mountains, crossing canyons, sliding down stone ridges and punishing downslopes to finally reached the rest house for the night. This area is chestnut county and they served delicious dishes cooked with them.

The rain has stopped, and must get ready to proceed again. The last few days has been most challenging, having to camp out in a tower on top of the mountain and taking the whole day to get down.

Looks like a possibility of staying up in the mountain again tonight given the difficult wet terrain and at least 4 hours to ascend and descend from the wall.

Till then, shall keep all posted.

Take care.

Rgds,

Hin

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