Father and Son Hiking: Outdoor Education Notes on Trekking the Great Wall

Author: Ren Erlin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: From July 15, 2001, to August 6, 2003, over three summer vacations, Ren Erlin and his son Ren Ziwei (Ppanpan), carrying backpacks, set off resolutely from Laolongtou at Shanhaiguan. With their tender feet, they measured the great Great Wall amidst the perilous mountains and rivers. After 89 days of day and night, they walked from the Great Wall to Jiayuguan in the northwest of China. Along the way, they passed through nine provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities; trekked over 2,000 kilometers, walking along the walls, mountains, loess plateaus, deserts, Gobi, villages, and towns. They ate wild fruits, drank dirty water, stumbled, and encountered dangers; stayed on mountaintops, rode donkey carts, got drenched in rain, and crossed the Yellow River. They crossed over 100 rivers and streams. A practical record of the Ministry of Education cultivating young men. The father and son, as backpackers, walked the Great Wall not through hellish training but through love, combined with detailed education and a broad and generous heart. This made the child's performance excellent every day and gradually improved his shortcomings. "Backpackers" refer to those who travel the world with dry food and sleeping bags. "Walking," or trekking, was the main way Ren Erlin and his son adopted to walk the Great Wall. As a result, they became a big and small backpack pair walking on the Great Wall. What's important is that during the three years of backpacking the Great Wall, the relationship between the father and son changed every year, gradually transforming from simple father and son into good friends who travel the world together as backpackers, developing the kind of "brother-in-arms" bond between backpackers. They became a big and small backpack pair walking on the Great Wall. What's important is that during the three years of backpacking the Great Wall, the relationship between the father and son changed every year, gradually transforming from simple father and son into good friends who travel the world together as backpackers, developing the kind of "brother-in-arms" bond between backpackers.