The Naro Moru route is the most heavily used of the trails up Mount Kenya, and the one that gave Naro Moru its small claim to fame. The trail starts at the Naro Moru gate of Mount Kenya National Park, about 13 kilometres east of the town, climbs through dense montane forest to the Met Station hut at 3,050 metres, and then crosses the moorland.
The infamous section is the Vertical Bog, a stretch of saturated tussock-grass moorland on the slope above the Met Station that can leave trekkers wading shin-deep in mud after rain. Above the bog the path emerges onto the alpine plain and reaches Mackinder's Camp at 4,200 metres, where most parties spend a night before the summit push. The huts along the route are managed from the Naro Moru River Lodge in town, where bookings, guides and porters are arranged.