Morocco’s Second Summit,and Its Emptiest
Ighil M’Goun is 4,071 metres, the third highest mountain in Morocco and the highest outside the Toubkal massif. It sees a fraction of Toubkal’s traffic, and on most days on this route you will meet shepherds and nobody else.
The M’Goun massif sits in the central High Atlas above the Ait Bouguemez valley, which is where our founder is from. This is not a route we researched; it is the ground our guides grew up walking, and the families who host the first and last nights are people we have known for twenty five years.
The walking is long rather than steep. You cross three passes above 2,900 metres, camp on the Tarkedit plateau at around 2,900, and summit on a broad ridge with a view that takes in the whole central Atlas and, on a clear morning, the Sahara haze beyond the Saghro.
Everything is carried by mules. You walk with a certified Amazigh mountain guide, a muleteer and a cook, and you sleep in a mix of village gites and tents on the high ground.
A Traverse of theCentral High Atlas
North to south across the massif, starting near Demnate and finishing in the Ait Bouguemez valley, so no day retraces another.
Why M’GounRather Than Toubkal
Six reasons walkers who have already done Toubkal come back for this one, and why some skip Toubkal altogether.
Almost Nobody Else
Toubkal can see several hundred people on a summer summit day. On M’Goun you will usually see your own group and the shepherds. There are no refuges and no queues.
The Tarkedit Plateau
A high grazing plateau at 2,900 metres where the Ait Bouguemez families bring their flocks in summer. Camping there, with the M’Goun wall above you, is the night people describe afterwards.
Our Own Valley
The route finishes in Ait Bouguemez, which is where Afsou Travels began. The guesthouses, the muleteers and the cooks are people we are related to or grew up with, and it shows in how the week runs.
Three Passes Above 2,900
Tizi n’Rougoult, the Tarkedit approach and Tizi n’Ait Boualli. Each is a full day and each gives you the acclimatisation that makes summit morning straightforward.
A Summit You Walk Up
No scrambling, no exposure, no fixed ropes. M’Goun is a long ridge walk at altitude. The difficulty is duration and height, not technique.
Full Mule Support
You carry a day pack. Mules take the bags, the tents and the kitchen, and a cook travels with the group. At 2,900 metres that is the difference between enjoying the week and surviving it.
Eight Days Acrossthe Central Atlas
The real itinerary, with the real walking times and heights. Open any day to see where you sleep and how far you climb.
Your driver meets you at the airport and takes you to a riad in the medina. The afternoon is free and, before a week of walking, that is the right use of it.
Your guide comes to the riad in the evening to go through the route, check kit and answer questions. Anything missing can be bought in Marrakech tomorrow morning.
Dinner wherever you like. The food gets simpler and, oddly, better from tomorrow.
North east out of Marrakech and up through Demnate, a market town below the Atlas with a natural rock bridge nearby at Imi n’Ifri that is worth the twenty minute stop. The road then climbs steadily into the mountains.
The vehicle stops where the track ends and the mules are waiting. Two to three hours of easy walking brings you to Rouguelte, a village of flat roofed houses on a terrace above the river.
You sleep in a village house tonight, eat with the family, and the altitude is modest enough that nobody should feel anything yet.
The first real day. The path climbs out of Rouguelte through juniper and bare rock to the Tizi n’Rougoult at around 2,860 metres, which for most walkers is the highest they have been on foot.
From the pass the central Atlas opens out and you can see the M’Goun wall for the first time, still two days away and considerably larger than expected.
Down the far side to Idoughmamen, a village where the valley turns green again. Another night in a family house, another dinner you cannot finish.
A steady climb all morning up a long valley towards the base of the mountain. The track follows a stream and there are azibs, stone shepherd shelters, every few kilometres with flocks around them.
The Tarkedit plateau is a wide high meadow at about 2,900 metres with the M’Goun ridge standing directly above it. The families of Ait Bouguemez bring their animals up here for the summer and the plateau is dotted with their camps.
Your tents go up in the afternoon and the cook starts work. It gets cold quickly once the sun drops behind the ridge, and the stars at this height and this distance from any town are exceptional.
An early start, walking by head torch up the shoulder behind the camp. The climb is long and steady rather than steep, on scree and broken rock, and the sun arrives somewhere around 3,600 metres.
The summit ridge of M’Goun runs for several kilometres and you walk along it to the high point at 4,071 metres. The view takes in the whole central Atlas, the Toubkal massif far to the west, and on a clear morning the haze over the Sahara beyond the Saghro to the south east.
Back down to the camp for a late breakfast, then on down the far side of the massif to Izabine, where you sleep in a village house again and the air feels thick and warm after the plateau.
One more pass. The Tizi n’Ait Boualli at around 2,900 metres is the gateway into the Ait Bouguemez valley, and the moment you top out you see why it is called the Happy Valley: a flat green floor between bare red walls, with villages the colour of the earth they are built from.
The descent is long and easy, through juniper and then walnut, with the terraces beginning as you drop.
Agouti sits at the head of the valley. This is home ground for us, and the guesthouse dinner on the last trek night is usually the best meal of the week.
A relaxed morning in the valley before the drive. If anyone still wants to walk there is an easy hour up to the granary at Sidi Moussa on its hill above Timit, which is the valley’s landmark.
The drive out goes through Azilal and down to the plain, and takes four to five hours depending on the road works, which are perennial on this stretch.
Marrakech in the afternoon. The contrast between the Tarkedit plateau and the medina inside forty eight hours is one of the stranger pleasures of this trek. Most people want a hammam, which we book when you ask.
Breakfast on the roof and a transfer timed to your flight, with a margin for the queues at Menara.
If your flight is late we can hold a day room at the riad, or arrange a last morning in the souks with a guide.
If you would rather keep going, this trek joins naturally to the Sahara at Erg Chegaga, or to Essaouira if what you want now is the sea and nothing to climb.
Seven Nights,Three Kinds of Bed
A trek sleeps where the route allows, and we would rather be precise about that than vague. Here is exactly what each night is.
A courtyard house inside the old city with a plunge pool and a roof terrace. The night before is for sleep and the kit check; the night after is for a long shower and a proper dinner.
Family houses in working villages. Simple rooms, mattresses and blankets, a shared bathroom and usually hot water. You eat with the family and the cooking is excellent. These are homes, not hotels, and that is the point.
Two person mountain tents pitched by the mule team, with foam mats, a mess tent and a cook. Cold at night, spectacular at dawn. Washing is a bowl of hot water brought to the tent.
A proper guesthouse at the head of our own valley, with hot showers, a wood stove and a terrace. After five nights on the mountain it feels like considerable luxury.
If you would rather not sleep in a shared dormitory or a bivouac, we can run the whole trek on private tents with the mule team. It is more comfortable and it costs more, and we will price both so you can choose.
What This TrekActually Costs
Group size is the single biggest factor on a trek, because the guide, the cook and the mule team cost the same for two walkers as for eight. The figures below are indicative starting points, confirmed against your dates.
The prices below assume the standard sleeping arrangement described above, two nights in a Marrakech riad and everything in the included list. They move with the season only modestly: trek logistics do not fluctuate the way hotel rates do.
What does move the number is how many of you there are. Two walkers trekking privately carry the whole cost of a guide, a cook and a mule team between them. At four it drops sharply, and at six it drops again.
Send us your dates and the number of you walking and we will come back within 24 hours with a firm costing, the sleeping arrangement we recommend for that time of year, and an honest view of the conditions you should expect.
Indicative from prices, per person
Included in the price
- Certified Amazigh mountain guide with the national licence, throughout
- Muleteer, cook and mules carrying all luggage, kitchen and camp
- All transfers between Marrakech and the trailheads
- Two nights in a Marrakech riad, before and after
- Five nights on the trek in village gites, a tented camp and a guesthouse
- All meals from day 2 lunch to day 7 breakfast
- Tents, foam mats and mess tent
- Group safety kit, including a first aid kit and oximeter
Not included
- International flights
- Travel insurance, which must cover trekking to the altitude of this route
- Meals in Marrakech
- Sleeping bag hire, if you need one
- Tips for the guide, cook and muleteers
What to ExpectBefore You Commit
How Fit Do I Need to Be
Fit enough to walk five to seven hours on consecutive days with one day of eight. No technical skill is needed. If you comfortably do full days in hill country at home, this route is within reach.
What About Altitude
You sleep at 2,900 metres and summit at 4,071. Headache and broken sleep at the plateau camp are normal; nausea and breathlessness at rest are not, and the guide will descend with anyone showing them. The three passes beforehand are deliberate acclimatisation.
How Does It Compare to Toubkal
Longer days, lower technical demand, far fewer people and no refuges. Toubkal is higher by ninety six metres and much busier. Walkers who have done both usually say M’Goun is the better week and Toubkal the better summit.
What Do I Carry
A day pack only. Everything else goes on a mule and reappears at the end of the day. Bags should be soft rather than hard shell and under fifteen kilos.
When Is It Open
June to September reliably. The passes hold snow into May and from late October, and the Tarkedit camp is not viable in winter. We will not run it outside the season simply because you ask.
What Is the Food Like
A cook travels with the group and produces tagines, soups, fresh bread, salads and fruit at 2,900 metres. Vegetarians are straightforward. Tell us about anything else well in advance, because resupply up there is not possible.
M’Goun Trek QuestionsWe Are Asked Most Often
They Travelled With Us
Many thanks to our wonderful guide Mohamed and all his team for this wonderful week. We will have wonderful memories for a long time thanks to their warm welcome, their dedicated commitment and their kindness.
Magnificent yoga trek in the Valley of Roses guided by Mohamed, a guide always in a good mood and passionate about his wonderful country. Thank you for your kindness, I will keep a fantastic memory of this trip!
During a week long trek in the Valley of the Roses, Mohamed made this trip very pleasant thanks to his good humor and his contagious joie de vivre. A big thank you to all his team.
July and August on TarkeditBook Early
Send us your dates and the number of you walking, and we will come back within 24 hours with a fully costed version of this trek, the sleeping arrangement we recommend and an honest view of the conditions.