2022-03-05 Aammiq Hills Loop

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Author

zahi.ramadan

with 2 trail buddies

10,914 276 1937

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Trail stats

Distance: 5.95 mi
Elevation gain: 1,430 ft
Technical difficulty: Moderate
Elevation loss: 1,430 ft
Max elevation: 3,906 ft
TrailRank: 52
Min elevation: 2,871 ft
Trail type: Loop

Time: 4 hours 12 minutes
Coordinates: 993
Uploaded: March 8, 2022
Recorded: March 2022

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near Aammîq, Béqaa (Libanon)

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Trail photos

Itinerary description

With the marshland at their peak in water level, the plan was to walk the Aammiq Marshland Loop. The trail started from the Aammiq village next to Tawlet Aammiq (Aammiq's Table) restaurant passing by the McSkaff (Skaff clan) residence and onto the pine forest, up the hill where the Israeli army made archeology digs and stole artifacts - the hill is overlooking the marshlands and gives you a spectacular 360 degree view of the Bekaa valley and surrounding mountains (Mount Barouk and Mount Hermon). once we got to the Aammiq marshland gate, we were greeted by the defenders of the gate and told that the reserve is closed due to the water high level in the swamps which might pose a danger to us.
The trail then changed direction and started uphill passing by the Sit Shawani Shrine (a religious site to the Druze community) and continued up hill until we reached a plateau where the views became more and more bird's-eye and picturesque. We passed by Ain El-Abed wellspring and down through a dirt/old decaying pavement road and back to the start point.
A beautiful hike for all (including children 7 - 10 years).

Waypoints

McSkaff Residence

The Aammiq reserve and most of the surrounding land is owned by the Skaff family who come from the town of Zahle (10+ km away). The residence is built from stones and has a classic Lebanese architecture.

Oak Tree

POV I

The Hill

This hill, the story goes, was pillaged and dug by the invading Zionist Israeli army in 1982 and took all artifacts found. It has a 360 view of the Bekaa valley.