Camping on the Wall!

Robbie, Jared, Leif, Liz and I took off at 6:00 am with plans of adventure. The plan was to camp on the Great Wall—take a train to Gubeiko, hike to Jingshangli, and then take an off-wall route back to Gubeiko and catch a train back home.    But our trip was cut short when…well…stuff.  You’ll see.  We met a few mini challenges, but Father was good every time and led us to mini victories…

Challenge: Traveling in China

We were told we could buy train tickets to Gubeiko the day off.  False.  Not only were there no tickets, but Gubeiko was no longer a possible destination like the hiking bloggers had said.  So, after several long lines, phone calls and failed attempts at communicating, we just bought tickets to a place relatively close to the wall and decided to wing it.  Liz was like, “We’re going!!  I don’t know where we’re going but we’re going!!”  But father…was awesome.  We boarded the train, asked a few conductors and bought tickets to continue on to Gubeiko on that same train for…like, a dollar.   When we finally made it to Gubeiko, we kept saying, pretty much for the rest of the trip, “I can’t believe we actually made it to Gubeiko!!  And our plan actually worked!!”

Challenge: Actually Getting onto the Wall

You’d think it’d be easy to find make your way to the wall.  It’s kinda big.  But we’re adventurous and poor so we were all about making our own way and not paying all these entrance fees.   So it was definitely an adventure, but Robbie…was a boss and found this roundabout follow-a-farmer’s-directions-and-happen-upon-a-wall-that-turns-out-to-be-the-Great-Wall kind of trail.  We made it.  And the view was incredible. 

           

Challenge: Being Wicked Out-of-Shape

FACT: I was least in-shape person on this trip.  I knew this from the start, but wowzers…give me 5 hours of sleep, a 40 lb pack, and a boatload of steps on a mountain and I’m breathing like a chubby kid on track and field day.  Plus we were pretty anxious to make it to a decent place on the wall before dark, so we were booking it.  But trail mix…is awesome and so were the Snickers and peanut butter and honey sandwiches that kept us going.  Turns out, I don’t really like hiking, but I LOVE stopping, resting, checking out the view and thinking, “I done climbed that.”  After 3 hours of hiking we made camp, played cards in the tent, talked and went star-gazing.  And FACT: Camping on the Great Wall of China is AWESOME.  There’s nothing like watching the sunrise from a watch tower, peeing on one of the 7 wonders of the world (TMI?), and looking back and seeing the wall outline how far you’ve come.  Every five minutes someone said either “It’s so pretty!!” or “Guys.  We’re camping on the Great Wall right now.”

Challenge: Military Zones

In between Gubeiko and Jingshangli, there’s a portion of the wall that is a military zone and closed to the public.  Fortunately, there were some boss hiking bloggers who had previously blazed an alternate trail past the military zone.  It was nice getting off the wall and hiking through woods and farmland where we encountered other hikers, random farmers trying to rip us off, and an abandoned drug-Lord shack…I mean…it could have been one…

Challenge: Medical Emergencies in the Wilderness

It all started when a lady in an orange vest wanted to charge us 65 rmb to get back on to the wall at Jingshangli.  Still poor and adventurous, we stuck to the alternate hiking trail leading us to….somewhere cool, we hoped.  But on a downward slope I slipped, fell, and gouged my leg on a tree root sticking out of the ground.  My leg started gushing blood, and the team jumped to the rescue with TP, bandages and water to clean it.  Though the cut wasn’t wide, it was deep, and Leif—our resident Bio major—thought I might need stiches, so we decided to head back a day early.  Just when things settled to a than-than-hectic state, Robbie had a seizure.  I’m serious.  Like, his eyes rolled back, he started shaking, and started sliding off the path and down the hill.  I don’t remember ever being so terrified.  Jared grabbed him, and Leif told us to hold the hold his head to the side.  Good thing, because I had no idea what to do; I poured my water bottle on him and was this close to putting my fingers in his mouth… Idon’tknowtheydoitinthemovies!  That said, I should never be an EMT.  Robbie came to in less than thirty seconds, feeling fine and refreshed from his mini-seizure dream.  We chalked it up to dehydration+gore+lack-of-sleep-and-sugar.  That said, we were ready to go home, but no one enjoyed seeing the orange-vested lady’s smug look as we each paid her 65 rmb.

It took us seven hours to hike the wall to Jingshangli, take a taxi to Gubeiko, ride a bus to M-something, another bus to Beijing, and the subway/taxi to the hospital.  Thank Father that my little accident wasn’t worse.  I was so blessed to be with a boss team that knew what to do and took care of me.  Honestly, I barely experienced any pain while hiking back, and it was only until the doctor cleaned my wound with iodine and gave me three stitches that I feel any real pain.  Good thing Liz held my hand and James distracted with me while du Loushi translated, “You need one more stitch in your butt.”   Turns out, he meant that I needed a shot in my butt (again, TMI?), and the image of a doctor sewing your butt cheeks together is enough to distract anyone from even the worst pain.  Best language mix-up ever? J

ALL THAT SAID…camping is wonderful, the wall is gorgeous, my leg is slightly swollen, and, despite all those challenges, I honestly never really felt stressed because of the awesome people I was with.  Conclusion?  Camping on the Wall—ya’ll need to try it some time.  Just listen to the lady in the orange vest.  J