Great Wall Hike 2

North of Beijing, 08.30.2017

Today was a tough hike. A lot of straight up hiking. Took me 4 1/2 hours round trip and there wasn't a part of my body that wasn't drenched in sweat. Really enjoyed the hike, but was very tired when I got back. I am sure I will hurt tomorrow for this one. No problem because tomorrow I travel back to Beijing. The Great Wall today was better than yesterday. The wall went up steep mountainsides and down into valleys. The path ended on a pointed mountain top where you could see the wall twisting its way over mountain ridges and beyond. To me this a magical place, but to others it is just a place to hike and see sites. It isn't possible to express the excitement and joy I have felt being in this quiet place with this amazing structure. You

do have to pause and reflect about the tremendous sacrifices made by countless numbers of people who lost their lives in the construction of the wall. I think you can honour them by enjoying their achievement even though they probably didn't see it that way. Today when I had made it to the top with all the effort put in to get there, I thought about how hard it must have been for these people to haul the stones up such drastic extremes to build a wall. Hard for me to climb, but unbearable for those building it. Will be content tomorrow when I leave knowing I saw all that I could and experienced the Wall the way I wanted to! Onward to Beijing again for a couple more days.

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