The Great Wall at Mutianyu

Grandma and Grandpa just after we got off the lift to the top
what a view!
Grandma and Grandpa and some pretty trees
this was the view in the other direction (we didn't walk that way)










off we go on our walk
AB and me
we walked a little further, and Grandma took our picture!










those little ants on the wall are Grandpa, AB, and me!
see, there we are

Great Wall at MuTianYu

Today we hiked the Great Wall at MuTianYu! We hired a driver to take us, and we had a nice mini-van with seat belts and everything, so I could use the car seat for AB. We had heard that the drive would be about two hours, but it wasn't even 90 minutes (even though the driver started out at about 12mph for fear that someone would get car sick). We had an absolutely gorgeous day to hike up the wall - it was clear and sunny, and there was not much wind at all, just a bit when we got near the top. AB was dressed VERY warmly, in lots of layers, and wasn't a bit cold when we got back to the car and started peeling off all the layers. She fell asleep toward the beginning of the walk but did wake up in time to see everything. It was a tough hike - LOTS of stairs, and with AB in the backpack and in 97 layers of clothing (okay, so it wasn't really that many... but she was heavy!) Of course I also had my big camera and extra lenses... so it was really a workout for me! My colleagues were very patient and took the hike slowly with us, and we had a great time taking in the sights and taking pics of each other. When we got to the very top - there were a bunch of people already up there, and they applauded me for making it up there with a kiddo on my back! (that was pretty funny.) I took about a zillion pics - here are some of the best ones. Enjoy!

wow
so neat!
posing with Gary
and with Julia
great view - and I love my fish eye lens
gorgeous mountains
that's where we are headed
up, up, and up some more
with Gary, Julia, and a sacked out AB
view from the top
wall's closed from this point on (but some people did hike past...)
(this was as far past as we went)
another view from way up there
those last steps were SO STEEP! had to go back down backwards
we made it!!! (and still smiling!)
cropped close up
at the top with Julia and Gary
view from the top (again)
this is on the way back down... but look ALL the way up there, that's as far as we went!
the top point you can see in this pic is as high up as we went
taking a rest
no, I mean, posing for photos!
can't get enough pics up here... :)
I think I have a photo of myself standing on that structure from 1995...
on the way back up to the cable car
we went up about as far as you can see in this pic
there we are!
she looks like she's having fun, doesn't she?
snow on the wall
definitely a neat hike!
lots of ups and downs!
yep, we went a long way!
a really long way!
great weather for a hike!
this is the highest piece I could get with the telephoto lens
the broken part of the wall, past where we were allowed to walk
the view back down when we were almost back to where we started
up there past the last little house you can see, to the right is where we took the cable car up and back down
pretty neat!