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%
Is it just me, but the red and blue line has never got beyond Dingbian, in fact is now regressing towards Jiayuguan!