Well, I’ve finally got around to posting the Western Hebei trip stats. The post is a bit out of order and should have gone up just before the Badaling post (our first post from Beijing municipality), but I delayed it because I was trying to get our maps to work before posting it. Had to give up on the maps – Google Maps file size limits are too small and unpredictable to display our maps consistently.

At any rate, we continued our good progress in Western Hebei, covering almost 320 kilometres in just 17 days (including breaks). If we’d hiked like that all the way, we could have completed this trip in six or seven months!

As in Shanxi, we did most of our hiking in Western Hebei on the wall, with about 240 kilometres on and only 75 off, most of those latter coming in our last three days in the province as we approached Beijing municipality. Also as in Shanxi, the terrain continued to be steep: our average gradient was over 12%.

Western Hebei Province

Days in the province: 18
Days spent walking: 14
Days spent resting, sightseeing, wasting time: 4

Location at Western Hebei’s’s western border: 39° 01’ 36.08” N, 111° 03’ 48.21″ E
Location at Western Hebei’s eastern border: 40° 39’ 31.53” N, 116° 09’ 04.48″ E

Kilometres walked: 317.621
Average daily distance (walking days only): 22.687

Kilometres walked on the wall: 243.012
Kilometres walked off the wall: 74.609

Elevation at Western Hebei’s western border: 1097
Elevation at Shanxi’s eastern border: 625

Maximum elevation: 1942
Minimum elevation: 608

Total ascent: 19,042
Total descent: 19,477
Average gradient: 12.143%

Trip Totals to Western Hebei’s Eastern Border

Total days: 227
Days walked: 153
Days spent resting, sightseeing, wasting time: 74

Location at trip’s beginning: 37° 21’ 58.56” N, 104° 12’ 21.45″ E
Location at Western Hebei’s eastern border: 40° 39’ 31.53” N, 116° 09’ 04.48″ E

Kilometres walked: 2939.399
Average daily distance (walking days only): 19.212

Kilometres walked on the wall: 1791.965
Kilometres walked off the wall: 1147.434

Elevation at trip’s beginning: 1735
Elevation at Western Hebei’s eastern border: 625

Maximum elevation: 2504
Minimum elevation: 625

Total ascent: 84,382
Total descent: 85,135
Average gradient: 5.767%

In Shanxi province we finally got back to our “normal routine” – that is, we hiked around 25 kilometres a day, same as we did when we started on the wall in summer 2006, before I broke my foot and everything went haywire. It is true that “normal” may not be quite the right word for a pace we’ve managed to sustain for only three of the last ten months, but we like to think of hiking at full strength as our normal state.

Anyway, we made good progress in Shanxi, covering 584 kilometres in 25 days of hiking. Apart from a 120-kilometre stretch along the Yellow River during our first week in the province, virtually all of that distance was along a 400-plus kilometre stretch of continuous wall from the Yellow River to the Hebei border, the longest continuous stretch we will hike on the entire route.

As you’ve seen from the photos, Shanxi was our most mountainous province to date. Our average gradient was well over 8%, which as an average, is a long ways from flat.

For day-to-day information on the hike, check out the Trip Log, which is now current through April 9. And to see a map of our route from Jiayuguan through Shanxi border, click on the Trip Map. That red and blue line is finally starting to get close to the sea!

Shanxi Province

Days in the province: 41
Days spent walking: 25
Days spent resting, sightseeing, wasting time: 16

Location at Shanxi’s western border: 40° 42’ 31.73” N, 114° 09’ 40.16” E
Location at Shaanxi’s eastern border: 39° 01’ 36.08” N, 111° 03’ 48.21″ E

Kilometres walked: 584.504
Average daily distance (walking days only): 23.380

Kilometres walked on the wall: 446.150
Kilometres walked off the wall: 138.354

Elevation at Shanxi’s western border: 830
Elevation at Shanxi’s eastern border: 1097

Maximum elevation: 1942
Minimum elevation: 807

Total ascent: 25,556
Total descent: 25,248
Average gradient: 8.692%

Trip Totals to Shanxi’s Eastern Border

Total days: 209
Days walked: 139
Days spent resting, sightseeing, wasting time: 70

Location at trip’s beginning: 37° 21’ 58.56” N, 104° 12’ 21.45″ E
Location at Shanxi’s eastern border: 39° 01’ 36.08” N, 111° 03’ 48.21″ E

Kilometres walked: 2621.778
Average daily distance (walking days only): 18.861

Kilometres walked on the wall: 1548.953
Kilometres walked off the wall: 1072.825

Elevation at trip’s beginning: 1735
Elevation at Shaanxi’s eastern border: 1097

Maximum elevation: 2504
Minimum elevation: 807

Total ascent: 65,340
Total descent: 65,658
Average gradient: 4.997%

Shaanxi was the province where we finally completed our entry level course in Hiking the Great Wall of China and moved up to intermediate level. Gansu and Ningxia were both pretty flat, as you’ll recall, but over the 647 kilometres we walked in Shaanxi, we ascended nearly 22,000 metres, i.e. 22 kilometres, and descended a bit more. The average gradient was nearly 7%. That’s not flat.

We were on the wall well over half the time, for 378 kilometres, but the figure doesn’t quite tell the whole story. The wall in Shaanxi isn’t in very good shape, but it does run more or less continuously from the Ningxia border to about 60 kilometres north of Yulin. Although there isn’t a lot of wall remaining in north of that point in Shaanxi, there are still beacon towers scattered along prominent ridges.

The trip totals for the three provinces completed are below the Shaanxi statistics. The Trip Log is also updated through Shaanxi, which we passed out of on February 27. We’ve had a few problems moving large files over the internet recently, so the Trip Map isn’t updated yet but it should be in a few days.

Shaanxi Province

Days in the province: 50
Days spent walking: 36
Days spent resting, sightseeing, wasting time: 14

Location at Shaanxi’s western border: 37° 43’ 31.66” N, 107° 29’ 42.66″ E
Location at Shaanxi’s eastern border: 39° 01’ 36.08” N, 111° 03’ 48.21″ E

Kilometres walked: 647.054
Average daily distance (walking days only): 17.974

Kilometres walked on the wall: 378.260
Kilometres walked off the wall: 268.794

Elevation at Shaanxi’s western border: 1333
Elevation at Shaanxi’s eastern border: 830

Maximum elevation: 1744
Minimum elevation: 820

Total ascent: 21,761
Total descent: 22,204
Average gradient: 6.795%

Trip Totals to Shaanxi’s Eastern Border

Total days: 168
Days walked: 114
Days spent resting, sightseeing, wasting time: 54

Location at trip’s beginning: 37° 21’ 58.56” N, 104° 12’ 21.45″ E
Location at Shaanxi’s eastern border:: 39° 01’ 36.08” N, 111° 03’ 48.21″ E

Kilometres walked: 2037.274
Average daily distance (walking days only): 17.871

Kilometres walked on the wall: 1102.803
Kilometres walked off the wall: 934.471

Elevation at trip’s beginning: 1735
Elevation at Shaanxi’s eastern border: 830

Maximum elevation: 2504
Minimum elevation: 820

Total ascent: 39,784
Total descent: 40,410
Average gradient: 3.936%

Our second province was not actually a province at all, but rather an “autonomous region,” a political designation for those regions of China with large minority populations. We walked about 500 kilometres in Ningxia, and as in Gansu, we spent a bit more than half the time on the wall and a bit less than half off.

Apart from our first two days in Ningxia, all of our hiking was done after we returned from the broken foot incident, and our daily average reflects our slow progess toward full strength – we only hiked about 14.5 kilometres a day, down from over 25 a day in summer. The other noteworthy change from Gansu is in the average gradient – 3.9% in Ningxia compared to 1.8% in Gansu – still not incredibly steep but a fairly big change.

In addition to the Ningxia statistics, I’ve compiled the trip totals for the two provinces completed, which are below the Ningxia numbers. The Trip Log is also updated through Ningxia, which we passed out of on January 8.

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Days in the autonomous region: 62
Days spent walking: 34
Days spent resting, sightseeing, wasting time: 28

Location at Ningxia’s western border: 35° 25’ 12.60” N, 104° 16’ 58.19” E
Location at Ningxia’s eastern border: 37° 43’ 31.66” N, 107° 29’ 42.66″ E

Kilometres walked: 496.587
Average daily distance (walking days only): 14.6055

Kilometres walked on the wall: 270.657
Kilometres walked off the wall: 224.93

Elevation at Ningxia’s western border: 1651
Elevation at Ningxia’s eastern border: 1333

Maximum elevation: 1736
Minimum elevation: 1097

Total ascent: 9564
Total descent: 9721
Average gradient: 3.883%

Trip Totals to Ningxia’s Eastern Border

Total days: 118
Days spent walking: 78
Days spent resting, sightseeing, wasting time: 40

Location at trip’s beginning: 39° 47’ 37.13” N, 98° 12’ 03.49” E
Location at Ningxia’s eastern border:: 37° 43’ 31.66” N, 107° 29’ 42.66″ E

Kilometres walked: 1390.22
Average daily distance (walking days only): 17.823

Kilometres walked on the wall: 724.543
Kilometres walked off the wall: 665.677

Elevation at trip’s beginning: 1735
Elevation at Ningxia’ eastern border: 1333

Maximum elevation: 2504
Minimum elevation: 1097

Total ascent: 18,023
Total descent: 18,206
Average gradient: 2.605%

As I was putting together to the Trip Log for Ningxia (about two months deferred, to be published in a day or two), it occurred to me that it might be of interest to a handful of our geekier readers to compile trip statistics province by province. Accordingly, here are the trip stats for Gansu Province, which we actually hiked over half a year ago.

Days in the province: 57
Days spent walking: 35
Days spent resting, sightseeing, wasting time: 22

Location at the beginning of the trip: 39° 47’ 37.13” N, 98° 12’ 03.49” E
Location at the eastern border of Gansu: 35° 25’ 12.60” N, 104° 16’ 58.19” E

Kilometres walked: 893.633
Average daily distance (walking days only): 25.532

Kilometres walked on the wall: 453.886
Kilometres walked off the wall: 439.747

Elevation at trip’s beginning: 1735
Elevation at eastern border: 1671

Maximum elevation: 2504
Minimum elevation: 1225

Total ascent: 8459
Total descent: 8485
Average gradient: 1.896%

A couple of things I found interesting. First of all, we were on the wall for slightly more distance than off it (where there are gaps). As we experienced it, though, it felt like we were on the wall quite a bit more than half of the time, probably because our time off the wall came in two large chunks – between Tiancheng and Dongle from June 17 through June 28, and between Jingtai and the Gansu border from August 1 through August 4 – while we were on the wall, with occasional small gaps, for all of the rest of the time.

The other thing, which we’ve written about before, is that with only a few exceptions the Gansu portion is flat, with an average gradient under two percent. While any average gradient is going to look fairly unimpressive, as a gradient of even ten percent is a reasonably good hill, two percent is flat by any standard.

Finally, as some of you have noticed, our Tracks and Points of Interest maps have been down for a few days. The problem was due to a recent upgrade in our blogging software, and it’s been corrected, so you can now see the maps by clicking on the two links just above. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Well, we finally got around to going back through all of our records and getting the Trip Log up to date (click on the tab at the top of the page). It was a bit hard to face, for a couple of reasons – one, it’s never fun to wade through a mass of numbers two months after you’ve collected them. More importantly, it reminded us of those last weeks and how much we were enjoying ourselves when we were walking.

As of the day Brendan broke his foot, we had hiked 940.62 kilometres, about half on the wall (453.886 kms) and half off (486.734 kms). That’s about a third to a quarter of the way, depending on how accurate our guesses on distance are for the remainder of our walk.

Guess we’ll find out soon.

Need a break from pretty pictures and feel-good stories? Head over to the Trip Log, where we have the cold, hard numbers – no fuss, no frills.

The Trip Log presents a day-by-day account of our trip in numerical form – our daily latitude/longitude coordinates, kilometres walked, elevation gain and lost. If you like maps, you can use the latitude/longitude coordinates to follow us on Google Earth or Google Earth Plus (instructions on the Trip Log page).

As of June 30, we had walked 388.752 kilometres: 151.507 on the wall and 237.245 off the wall. That pace is a bit too slow for us to finish at a reasonable time, but when the backpack breakdown is taken into account it’s not too bad.

A few cool things about June. In Google Earth Plus, you can see Jiayuguan Fort (see “The Strongest Fortress Under Heaven” ) very clearly; entering 39° 48’ 05.28” N, 98° 12’ 57.59” E will put you right in the middle of the fort. You can also see the wall very clearly at our June 9 campsite at 39° 52’ 46.09” N, 98° 18’ 48.02” E.