One of the only portions of the Great Wall yet to be restored by the Chinese government,  the Jiankou portion of the wall lies on the outskirts of Xizhazi village.  Referred to as the “wild wall”  it is overgrown with shrubs and trees and the brickwork is crumbling everywhere you look.

My buddy John and I decided to hike the wall in the dead of winter because we figured no one would be around because it’s actually illegal to hike on this portion of the wall (it’s pretty dangerous at parts and unmaintained by the government).  We set up base camp at a small village house about an hours hike away from the wall.  After about 8 gruelling hours of hiking mile after steep mile, we ended up sleeping in one of the enemy watch towers scattered throughout the wall.  All of our water froze, our tent iced over and the wind was deafening.  It was by far the most uncomfortable and terrible night I have ever spent ANYWHERE.

But it’s always feels good to knock something off your bucket list.