The Jinshanling Great Wall, near the town of Gǔběikǒu, marks the starting point of an exhilarating 10km hike to Sīmǎtái . The adventure – winding through stunning mountainous terrain – takes around four hours as the trail is steep and parts of the wall have collapsed, but it can be traversed without too much difficulty. Note that the watchtowers are in various states of preservation and some have been stripped of their bricks.
Hiking (in either direction) on the restored section of the Wall here is straightforward. There's an east gate and a west gate (about 2km apart), which means you can do a round trip (90 minutes) without backtracking; from the east gate, turn right at the Wall to find the west gate, then right again once back down on the road. If you need it, there’s a cable car by the west gate ticket office. If you want to find some unrestored sections, turn right when you hit the Wall and just keep going. This stretch eventually leads to Gǔběikǒu (6½ hours), although you have to leave the Wall for an hour or two in order to walk around the boundary of a small military camp.
