But no matter what goes on at the base, we hiked the next 90 minutes in the brush below the wall to avoid it — passing by farmers’ cornfields, pear trees and irrigation canals, by old cottages surrounded by bluebells and tiger lilies. Then we spent the rest of the day back on top, not getting down again until we came to Jinshanling, which means Gold Mountain Ridge, having seen only two other groups of hikers the entire day. The stretch of wall in Jinshanling has a wonderful variety of architectural styles and has been restored to what it might have looked like 500 years ago — at once elegant and forbidding.

If the weather had been good, our driver would have taken us back to the area around Gubeikou to camp and then returned us to the same spot in the morning to continue on. But I noticed clouds moving in while we walked the half-mile down into Jinshanling, a farming area that has fully embraced Great Wall tourism. The town has been spiffed up with restaurants and shops, including a gallery displaying impressive photos of the wall in all seasons. My husband and I drank beer at an outdoor picnic table as our boys browsed the stores and Joe consulted with the tour company to decide if we were going to camp.

Finally the word came down: No. “You don’t want to be in a watchtower during a thunderstorm,” Joe said. I maintained that we would be sheltered from the rain and I didn’t mind getting wet in any case, but Joe was firm. I felt the company might be copping out. Maybe some attempt at permission had been unsuccessful or setting up tents would have been too much of a headache.