Last weekend me and my friend Kevin had decided to do a trip to the GW and the plan was to go to Jiankou to hike from Jiuyanlou to Zhengbeilou and sleep in Zhengbeilou but since the forecast said it was going to rain and it didnt felt safe to be in Zhengbeilou if it would be lightning we went for plan B.

Plan B was to go to Wangjinglou a place i always wanted to visit since the first time i walked from Jinshanling to Simatai 2 years ago. Went to Miyun by bus and go a driver for 90 kuai. Ended up being a minibus with 6 others and 10 big fishes in a plastic bag… Have been reading a lot and since i havent been planning to risk my life at the wall we had the driver to take us to Tangjiazhai (唐家寨), but when we got there he didnt want to drive more (unless he got 30 kuai more) than to the intersection from the main road. We tried everything, walked away since he should want he money but he just screamed at us to pay and finally we just gave him the 90 kuai and started a longer walk than expected…

After passing through some apple trees and rose bushes (not good with shorts) we ended up following a dried waterstream with some weird stone path that we had to climb and it was a tougher walk than expected. 2/3 up on the hillside we found a path that we could follow and as we got higher we could see that this was the path we should have gotten on if the driver have taken us to the correct place. He dropped us off in the wrong intersection…

The path was much easier to walk than before (no path at all) so just to continue with some break for water and after a while we go to the mountain side where it got a bit steeper but it was still no problem to walk up. Finally up the view was really nice, instantly saw that there was a path on the other side of the wall where we came up and thought that it was the path so we wouldnt be needed to cross Sky Bridge. After looking and taking photoes to the farmost east we headed up to Wangjinglou. Found a path that went on the north side on the tower that also seamed to be a way around the SKy Bridge but that i planned to check after having lunch. Cn say that the beer we bought in Miyun really tasted good after the 2 hours hike =)

After lunch it was time to have a look on Sky Bridge and take some photos. Since it was a bit scary i sat down during the photos while Kevin was more used to this kind of things and were standing on the wall. My legs was a bit shaky when i tried to stand without holding anything so wasnt an option…

Since both me and Kevin is a bit curious (probably more than are good for us) we said we just look a little bit more. In the beginning i found it easier to be on the south side of the wall even if i sometimes had to take big steps over drops that would have given me a fall for more meters than i could take… KEvin went on the wall and therefor had to climb the steep drops 1-1.5 meters.

After going down the perhaps 30 meters i had to climb up on the wall since there was nothing to stand on besides it… I definetly felt my respect for heighs and sat on the sky bridge while slowly getting forward but at the same time i felt it was doable. It was hard in the beginning to take the drops but they were mostly around 1 meter so it was ok. 20 meters more we climbed off at the north side since it was a drop around 2-3 meters.

Found an easy way off when KEvin already had started a harder climb… Crawled or what i shall call my technique (Kevin was walking while i didnt dare to stand up) over another hill and then we came to a place where the wall was 3 meters up so we had to choose to go on the south or the north side. We went on the south (since it seamed easier to get up), not sure if this was the best choice and got no intensions to try the north side…

It was kind of easy to get up, just to take it carefully as always since falling wouldnt be a good idea. At the top we just followed the side of the wall to where it started to get down again and discovered that we had to climb down on the cliffs for about 4 meters (perhaps 75-80 degrees) before it was possible to get up on the wall again and a mistake would definetly be deadly. Kevin went first and and then i followed after he succeeded with the climbing. Never really done rock climbing but had it a try and took it really easy and managed to get down with Kevin giving me some tips where to put my feet. Dont know if we had been able to avoid this part on the north side but the fall would probably have been lower if we would have ended up falling.

After this part is was kind of flat on the way to Xiannulou just had to climb one part of the wall that was about 1,7 m and also climb down one for 1,8 meters (dont really like those things). I had also found out the technique that worked good for me to get going on this kind of wall…

Finally at the Fairy Tower it was to have some water and relax before continuing, dont know if i now was used to the fear since i didnt found this part so scary (never good, thats when you makes mistakes). After walking on the wall for another 100 meters we met a group of 4 people that had walked up the normal way. Kevin asked about the guards and they said that there was one but he didnt do or say anything when they passed him… So good to know we probably wouldnt have any trouble when we got to the guards.

Showed them some pictures from Sky Bridge that i had taken before we continued to the Heavenly Ladder. HAve to say it was a very steep and long part but at the same time it felt like a walk in the park compared to the Sky Bridge. The steps was good like normal stairs even if we of course needed to use the hands but there was always something to stand on and all the steps had the same height. When we got down the ladder it was just to continue to the restored sections. PAssed some steep areas but had passed much worse during the day so no problem. Finally we got to where the guards were supposed to be located there wasnt even anyone there so i guess they are not so strict on the rules anymore. When the people we met even were able to just walk by when there was a guard there…

Since we were a bit lazy we ended up taking the cable car down and could see that it wasnt really that far to go from there so guess it might be the shortest way to hike from there.

Also met him down on the parking lot and he wanted to give us a bad deal for getting back but i told Kevin that i definetly didnt want to sponsor him if i had another choice. After looking around at some different options we got a very convinient transport with one of the minibus drivers that was on the way back to Miyun.

As some last words i can say that i did something i never thought that i was going to do when i went up there. I have no intensions to risk my life on the wall but when we started to check the first meters on Sky Bridge i noticed that it might be doable without taking a too big risk. After wanting to go up there the last 2 years i really feel that it was a great experience and nothing i would like to have undone. At the same time i cant recommend anyone to do it since only one mistake is needed for the trip to be a catastrophe.