Miles To Go

Climb the Great Wall of China, an amazing wonder to behold.

- Irene Rawlings

MY HUSBAND AND I SCRAMBLE up a steep, rocky trail, following hand-lettered signs pointing us toward the Great Wall. At first, there’s not much to see except dense foliage, but coming around a bend, we catch our first glimpse of this world-famous structure. It is massive. At the top we are alone, with only the sound of birds and the rustle of wind in the trees for company. The view of the wall snaking relentlessly through the mountains to the hazy, distant horizon is intoxicating.

On a climb to an impressive but unreconstructed portion of the Great Wall, we gained private access from an unusual hotel — Commune by the Great Wall — a little more than an hour outside of Beijing. Commune can arrange a multicourse, white-tablecloth lunch atop the Great Wall, but we opt for a simple dinner — in a knapsack packed with real silverware, linen napkins, crystal goblets and a nice bottle of wine. We pop the cork at sunset. As the darkness slowly falls, we can almost imagine ourselves back in ancient times … until several of the hotel staff come with flashlights to fetch us.