High Atlas Mountains Hike

On a beautiful morning, I started from Marakkesh on a hi Atlas Mountain hike, which started at Imlil and proceeded to Imnane Valley. The trip organizer picked me up from the hotel, and drove almost an hour and a half to the starting point of the hike where another guide met me.

It was 10 AM by this time and the sun was out although it was a little chilly outside. The guide got a bottle of water for me and we started off.

The starting point was at about 5,500 feet and it was a little steep at the beginning.

The highest point in the region is the toubkal mountain at close to 14,000 feet.

I could see a small village afar as I was climbing, and the guide told me that this region had villages that were at highest elevation in Africa.

The Atlas mountain range was very pretty and the air was crisp and soon I was at the first rest stop, which was almost at 6,300 feet.

After a few minutes of resting, I proceeded further and the network of paths in the mountains leading to the village was looking very interesting.

The path was steep and the mountains looked rugged.

At this point, most of the time we were walking at the edge of the mountain on a narrow hiking path.

Another village came in view and seemed to have a lot of terraced farming.

One villager passed me by on a horse but got off the horse as the path was too narrow and he did not want to spook the horse.

As I progressed further along, I could get a better view of the village. Soon after, the guide took me to a home in the village, which seemed to be a regular spot for his customers to get lunch. The lunch was provided as part of the whole hike experience. It consists of Moroccan salad, a tagine with vegetables and chicken, and, of course, mint tea.

Due to the wintertime, most of the trees had shed their leaves. I imagined how beautiful this whole area would look during spring or when covered with snow.

As I went around the corner, I could see a beautiful view of the village bathed in the sunlight.

Far below, I could see the river bed, which only had a trickle of water running through it.

The high Atlas mountains are very accessible from the city of Marakkesh and attract a lot of hikers and tourists who want to escape from the hustle and bustle of the busy Marakkesh city.

The next part of the hike was visible, and it looked like it was making its way through a long and arduous path.

A bit later, I could see the pass I had to climb such that the bulk of the hike would be over. This was the Tizi Ntamatert Pass at about 7,800 feet.

As I approached the pass, I could see a small restaurant of sorts and a few hikers hanging out there.

The pass area was pretty wide and broad, and I could continue walking around a bit to see the vicinity.

A local peak and many pine trees were visible, and I could see some people relaxing there. This pass is accessible by a road and people don't have to hike to get there.

Being at a high elevation, there were some cell phone towers at this pass as well.

The restaurant served tea, snacks and refreshments. There were many groups of hikers at the restaurant.

Making it so far meant that the rest of the hike was already in the bag. It was supposed to be all downhill from this point forward. There were many intersections with roads as I descended down the mountain.

At several places, I could see the local sheep herders grazing their sheep in the meadows.

Interestingly, I could see some standalone trees in the middle of the desert like area.

The whole ascent took about four hours, but the descent was swift, and in less than an hour I was very close to the point where the car could pick me up.

For the last half a mile, we went through a small river, which was barely a thin stream. The guide was surprised that in less than five hours we had done the hike, and he was expecting us to take two or three hours more.

In just over an hour, the car brought me back to Marakkesh hotel, and it was not even dinner time. I had a great hike and a quick introduction to the Atlas mountains. The guide did mention that they offer multi-day hikes, which span 2 to 18 days, something to consider in the future.