At elevation 13,671 ft, Mt. Toubkal is the highest mountain in North Africa. So naturally, never having been in any mountains before, let alone climbed them, I (along with some wonderful friends) summited it. I'm enamored with the mountains now, having officially been christened a BMW (burly mountain woman) by Colorado summer mountain guide and my friend, Darylann. These photos mark my first impressions of absolute wonder.
Actual mountain goats in the actual mountains
Our first day hiking was 7 miles upward through mountain valleys to get to a refuge at about 9,000 feet elevation. The trek takes about six hours from the base, and my friends and I stopped every so often to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, granola, and bananas we had brought in our packs.
The refuge in which we stayed overnight. 5 of us slept on 3 mattresses with massive blankets huddled for warmth. The whole thing is made of stone and has few windows, so it is freezing and dark during the day and night. I wore approximately 5 layers while we were here.
Sunday morning, we woke up at 4 to eat a breakfast of coffee, tea, bread, jam, and hard boiled eggs. We packed food and water into one bag and headed out at 5am. The trail is difficult to find and completely dark, so we waited until a couple with a guide was leaving and scrambled after them.
We were following a couple and their guide, who took frequent enough breaks that I got a few long exposures on the way up. This was 20 seconds at f/8, ISO 1600.
The couple and their guide we followed to the top.
First look at sunrise: the sky was distinct strips of color and we could just barely see the horizon.
The sun creeping over the mountaintops was magnificent.
After 4 grueling hours, we made it to the summit, exhausted and amazed.
I CLIMBED MY FIRST EVER MOUNTAIN! THE TALLEST ONE IN NORTH AFRICA! HOLY CRAP!
And after 15 minutes of admiring the view, sharing muesli cookies with our new Moroccan friend Lazeeza, and taking photos, we headed back down.
Windows desktop background or High Atlas mountains?
And just like that, the sun set on our time in the High Atlas mountains. From sunrise to sunset we had seen the peaks and valleys and I listened to "Wide Open Spaces" about a million times and stared up at the mountains around me with the knowledge that I had climbed higher than all of them. My heart is full.
Aroumd, the village where we stayed before heading back home the next morning.
Latifah, 9, guiding us to Imlil, where we would catch a taxi to go home.
"WE DID IT!"
The train ride back home to Meknes. We were sore, bruised, coated in a layer of dirt, and feeling a lot of things.