From the small mountain town of Imlil at 5,100ft it was a 2 day hike to the 14,000ft summit of the Atlas mountains and back. Toubkal mountain is the highest point in North Africa, third highest in Africa after Mt Kenya and Kilimanjaro. The hike was monotonously uphill and hot. Lunch was 2hrs later at a small shack where they used the snow chilled waters to refrigerate the sodas. Our mule handler also doubled as our cook, a precarious combo of chores. It was a farther 3hrs of up before we got to the mountain refuge. Outside were numerous tents in the gale force winds; luckily we were staying inside the stone walls. The sleeping pads were small and laid up next to each other so it looked like a wall to wall cushion and rolling over meant invading your neighbor.
At 5am the refuge started to stir as breakfasts were started and the refugees were stumbling their way to the public facilities. The morning hike was to the summit, 3 miles to the top with an elevation gain of 960m. Every step was up and the loose pebbles under foot made each step a struggle to gain secure footing. The mountain was just a massive pile of small rocks that slid towards the earth with every step. Some areas were so steep and loose that it required crawling to gain any altitude. The day was sunny but the wind howled and tried to push us off the mountain. During the strongest gusts you could see each successive hiker stop and turn their backs to the wind and wait for the worst to pass. The temperature was a chilly 47F, not including the substantial wind chill. Not having expected the low temps (thank you, useless guide!), Steve and I were hiking in our sweatshirts, sports sandals and socks so stopping to rest also meant a drop in body heat, but it did give us a break from staring down at the path so we could take in the rugged scenery. It took us 3 hours passing one stunning panorama after another until reaching the penultimate pano at the top. As difficult as hiking up was going down was even more treacherous. With each step we brought a little of the mountain down with us. There was no sure footing as the pebbles under foot acted like ball bearings and we all slid part of the way down on our bottoms. When it came to the snow our sandals doubled as makeshift skis. It took an equal three hours and a second aleve to make it down. Lunch at the refuge was short as we had the journey back down to Imlil. At least the rest of the way down was easy because the path was well worn and stable. But 17km is still 17km, especially after the rough 9km morning hike. When we were done we were covered in dirt and completely exhausted and ready for a civilized Thai dinner back at the hotel in Marrakech.

- Mary