Mount Toubkal — 4,167 m
When I was in Morocco, I decided to make a quick run to the summit of Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa. I did not expect the route to be this scenic.
The trail starts in the High Atlas and climbs steadily through rocky valleys and small Berber villages before opening into a wide alpine landscape above the tree line. The higher you go, the quieter it becomes. Long ridgelines replace the valley paths, and the views begin to stretch far into southern Morocco.
The full route covered about 26 km with roughly 2,300 m of ascent and descent and took around 10 hours in total. I covered it in 2 days, but technically straightforward in stable conditions and very manageable as a single day push from the valley.
Reaching the summit at sunrise changed the scale of the whole landscape. Layer after layer of mountain ranges faded into the distance, with the desert somewhere beyond the horizon.
For a 4,000 m peak, Toubkal feels surprisingly accessible. But it still feels like a proper mountain day and one of the most rewarding high summits I have done in North Africa. ⛰️🌄
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