The Jiankou section northwest of Beijing is the wall at its most honest — crumbling, unrestored, clinging to near-vertical ridgelines above 1,000 meters with no tourist facilities in sight. This is Ming stonework exposed to five centuries of wind, frost, and vegetation. There's no cable car, no gift shop, and no crowd. It's also the section most visitors skip, which is exactly why it's worth considering.
© thierrytutin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons