6 hrs, 3.0 kms



So far I've done 10 Superhikes here in Morocco—that means 10 regions explored . I think 12 will be a nice, round number, so let’s add two more. One should be up in the northeast where I explored a lot of towns back in 2008—maybe around Nador/Melilla. That leaves one more… And I know exactly where I want to do it.

Tafraoute. I visited it with Youssef, my brother-in-law back in 2008 and we both fell in love with it… amazing rock formations… houses perched on top of boulders… a regular Rock Wonderland. I also remember seeing on our way back several villages pressed against the rugged cliffs that I’d love to see up closer. But of course, with the shortage of transportation, I didn’t want to get off the bus and risk not finding another one to take me on to the next town.

Well, now things are different. I don’t need buses. I simply could walk from Tafraoute to the next significant town, some 85 kilometers away and make it a Superhike. Zooming in on Google Maps it looks like there are enough villages and oasis along the way to keep it interesting. Of course, I’d need to find lodging along the way—or a ride back to the town… might be a bit difficult, but we’ll figure that out along the way . The main thing is to do it in the wintertime—summer is just too hot for this type of a hike.

So it looks like it’s now or never…

So, once again, I head to the Oulad Ziane bus station and hop on an overnight bus from Casablanca directly to Tafraoute.

But as we get closer, I start to wonder if focusing all my attention on getting from point A to B might be the wrong approach here.   I mean, does it really matter if I hike all the way to Ait Baha or not? What if I were to do just big loops around Tafraoute, where all the really cool stuff is? At least I wouldn’t have to worry about lodging that way. I think I want to focus more on quality than quantity this time—just soak in a small area rather than trying to cover big distances.

Actually it’s a relief to not be under a deadline—a big rush to make Superhike, like I’ve been the last 6 trips or so . I’ve got 2 days, and I know I’m not going to make it to my 100 km marker during this time so, what’s the rush? Let’s just live the moment.

The bus is painfully slow the last couple hours, stopping in every town averaging only about 30 km an hour. Finally at 11 am we finally reach Aguerd Oudad, a village 3 kilometers from Tafraoute, which Youssef and I visited but I didn’t park bench. That was back in the early days of my parkbenching tour and it still wasn’t clear to me what a "town" was… I thought Tafraoute and Aguerd were the same town…

So I go ahead and hop off the bus and take a moment just to soak in the beauty around me—every way I look there’s beauty and geological wonder. The centrepiece here is a majestic butte, called “Napoleon’s Hat” which looks like someone neatly stacked these massive squarish boulders on top of each other that fit together perfectly… and right beneath it is the village of Aguerd.

First things first, I need to grab something for a late breakfast . I find one open store and grab some biscuits and yoghurt. Here many of the houses are quite fancy—typical of this region where most people have gone to the cities to do business—and they all save up money to build a big retirement house in their native village… we’ll talk more about that later.

I doubt that I’ll be able to climb Napoleon’s Hat, but I should at least take a closer look. I follow a path up, and am surprised to find, perched halfway up this nearly vertical rock tower, rock walls which look like unused goat pens! It’s like a cliff castle—for goats! I guess, before folks started emigrating to the cities, herding goats was about the only livelihood, so keeping goats away from bandits and who knows what else was of top priority.

I work my way around an enormous boulder, below a sheer drop… suddenly my danger sense starts tingling and I remember my near disaster in Armenia last summer. I decide I’m not going to try to climb up this route . I might be able to… but it just feels to dangerous. I do find a cool spot to prop my camera, and clamber to the other side to take a photo of myself with my guitar, but unfortunately I can get over there within 10 seconds which is all the timer will give me…

Finally I decide to climb down and try my luck on the other side.   Here I’m greeted with a panoramic view with buttes, rock formations and giant boulders for as far as the eye can see. Once again I feel the danger sense tingling a decide to climb no further, but I do go ahead and pause for an magical concert to dedicated to the majestic rocks of Aguerd Oudad.