Leading down to the valley floor ---  Hiking down was much harder on my knees than hiking up, and presented the possibility of being careless. In these restored sections there were no loose rocks or bricks to worry about, just what would happen when reaching the source of restoration, and whether it were off-limits or not.

Much of the Great Wall was in off-limits areas, but the people were probably unaware of that, or just never really thought about it, as tourists had probably never been there before. The trick was to get fed, find some food to go, and get the heck back to the safety of the wall.