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The heat was awful. My mouth was bone-dry, and I had no water left. I was standing on the Great Wall of China. The Wall wound its way over a steep mountain like a snake made of stone. Sweat dripped down my shirt. There was a sheer drop to my right. One slip, and I was history. Slowly, I climbed forward. When I finally reached the top, I saw a village in the distance.

Before I tell you what happened next, let me tell you about the Great Wall. The first thing you should know is that it's very long—about 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles). That is the distance from Washington, D.C., to Kansas! On its path, the Wall crosses the vast Gobi Desert. It leads up 610-kilometer (2,000-foot) mountains and into deep valleys. The Wall took millions of workers and thousands of years to build.

The Chinese built the Wall to protect their northern villages from attackers. Chinese guards stood in towers high atop the Wall. They could see any attackers and send smoke signals to warn the nearby villages.

My journey began at the western end of the Wall—at a fortress called Jiayuguan. Iron Abacus was the main builder of the fort. Officials demanded that he guess how many bricks it would take to build the massive fort. If Abacus got it wrong, he would be killed. Thirty-six years later, the fortress was finished. When workers counted up the bricks, Abacus had guessed the number correctly!

Perhaps you are wondering what brought me to the Wall in the first place. It goes back to the year 2000. That's when I joined a group of hikers with a special goal. We wanted to be the first non-Chinese people to walk the entire length of the Wall. Our goal was to show the world that a group of people, from very different countries, could do something great together.

There were five of us in the group. A monk from Sri Lanka and a reporter from Argentina walked with me. So did an Italian man and an American golfer. Then there was me—a Maori lawyer from New Zealand.

The five of us gathered the things we would need and then set out into the Chinese countryside. We hiked through muddy swamps and icy rivers, plowed fields and dusty coal mines.

About a month into the trek, our group split up. Some of us had been injured; others had been sick. Yet I wanted to push on. That meant I had to finish the mission alone.

Since the group split up, I found myself alone on the mountaintop that day—hungry, tired, and thirsty. When I set out, I wanted to hike the Wall for the challenge. The journey would test my mind. It would test my strength. If I could finish it, this journey would be the biggest achievement of my life.

Yet I was so tired that day, I started to think my trek was not the best idea. I had been hiking since 4 a.m. that morning. I only brought with me what I could carry. That meant that every day I had to find villages for food and water.

These tiny villages were not on any maps, so I never knew if I would come across one or not. I was never certain when my next meal would be. That day, luck was on my side. I spotted that town from the top of the mountain. I headed down.

When I stumbled into the village, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at me. I was in a remote place, and they had never seen a foreigner up close before. Their eyes stared at me from below straw hats. Children stood wide-eyed: I was so much taller and bigger than the villagers!

I pulled out my empty water bottle and gestured for help. Thankfully, a young boy understood. He rushed inside his hut and came back with water. I took a sip. Relief! I filled up my bottle and got ready to head back to the Wall. Yet the boy and his parents weren't ready for me to leave. They invited me in for a meal.

I followed them into their house, a crowd trailing behind me. They didn't want to miss any excitement. Inside, I took a seat on a wobbly stool next to the bed. The people were poor, but generous. They offered me boiled tea leaves in an old jar, apples, biscuits, and bread. The main course was hot white noodles, fried crickets, and pigs' ears! That was a first for me. I was hungry though, so I couldn't be picky.

That was my first meal in two days, and I ate it quickly. The group around me stared as I ate. They were amazed at how many noodles I could swallow at once. I felt my strength return. I thanked the family and headed back out.

Just before sunset, I came to a large river running between two sheer cliffs. It was the mighty Yellow River, the second longest river in China. I wondered how I would ever manage to cross it.

I looked around me and spotted a man with a raft nearby. I shouted to him, asking for his help. He was a shepherd, one of the Hui people from northwestern China. The man was wearing a little black hat. He had one blue eye and one brown eye.

The man appeared to be heading home for the day, but agreed to stay and help me. He had a raft made from the bodies of dead sheep. The bodies were filled with air and tied together, so they floated. I had never seen anything like it before, but it would do the trick. I loaded my pack onto the raft and carefully jumped aboard.

The shepherd rowed me across the rushing water. I was impressed with his skill: It was clear to me he had done this before. Though the water was fast and the current was strong, we made it safely to the other side.

After months of hiking, countless blisters, and many sleepless nights, I finally reached the eastern end of the Great Wall. It disappears into the waters of the Bo Hai Sea at a place called Laolong Kou. In Chinese that means the Head of the Dragon. I had done it! I had walked the entire Wall. I couldn't help shouting for joy at the top of my lungs.

I know I was lucky to survive my life's biggest challenge. The hike did test me. It stretched my body and my mind to limits I never thought I could reach.

The Great Wall was started in 221 B.C. to keep people out of China. Yet this summer, people from all over the world are coming into China. The world's best athletes will meet in Beijing for the Olympic Games.

Just as I saw, they will see some of the most amazing scenery on Earth. Just as I felt, they will feel the generosity and kindness of the Chinese people. I wonder: Will this place change them the way it has changed me?

Article by Nathan Hoturoa Gray. Top-of-page photograph © Jose Fuste Raga/Corbis. "Wall of Wonder" appears on page 10 of the May 2008 issue.