High Atlas Mountains, Morocco (Post #56)
Mike and Michele write…
Today is October 12 and in the next 1-2 hours we will head for the Marrakech train station to ride to Casablanca where we will catch our plane back to Valletta, Malta. The next day we will take another plane to Athens…
At 8 a.m. Friday morning, Oct 7, outside the Sahara Expeditions office, we met the guide, cook and bus driver for our trek through the High Atlas mountains to Jebel Toubkal (highest mountain in North Africa). We had packed everything we thought we would need for this trek into Mike’s pack and left everything else behind in Michele’s pack in the Sahara Expeditions office luggage room. The bus ride to Imili, the Berber village where our trek began, was just about one hour. In Imili, we met our mule and mule handler and began a moderately easy 4-hour trek to our first overnight stop. One thing we (or at least Michele) learned is that a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey and mules cannot reproduce. So, the only way to get more mules is by breeding horses and donkeys together. Our guide also explained thqt a mule can carry up to 450 pounds of stuff. Our mule was carrying all our food and cookware and the gear for five people over four days. Here is a picture (taken by our guide, Tariq) of Michele; Mike; our cook, Mahmoud; our mule handler, Hamid; and our mule.
We could not believe that we had all of this care just for the two of us and this feeling was reinforced when we stopped for lunch the first day. Mahmoud, Hamid and the mule had gone ahead and when the remaining three of us reached the first mountain pass, a big lunch of sliced tomatos, sliced cucumber, orange slices, sardines, dried fruit and nuts and Berber tea was waiting for us. And to think that Mike had been concerned about the agency providing enough food for us. Mike and Michele ate alone while the three Muslim men spoke to each other. Since it was Ramadan, they would be waiting until sunset before consuming anything (including water!). When we set up the tour the day before we expressd our concerns to the agent about our guide and the fact that he would be hiking for as long as 7 hours without food or water. She explained that Muslims continue to do their jobs during the fasts of Ramadan and guiding treks through the High Atlas was the job of our guide. She assured us he would be fine. Anyaway, after our filling lunch, we hiked down from the pass for about 1.5 hours before reaching the village of Tizi Oussem. In the picture below you can see some of the houses and agricultural terraces of this village, where we would stay the night.
After staying the night in the gite (private backpacker lodge in the mountains) in Tizi, we got an early start (about 6:30 a.m.) on our 7-hour hike to the Toubkal refuge. When we left the house, it was drizzling a bit but the skies cleared in a few hours. We arrived at the Toubkal refuge at around 1:00 p.m. where we were presented with another enormous lunch. Here we met four American men who were on an overnight trek to the summit of Jebel Toubkal. Three of them were employed at the American Embassy in Rabat, Morocco. We spent the next several hour talking to them about their jobs, the countries they have worked in, the languages they speak and everyone’s expectations of the summit climb the next day.
Mike had a hard time eating much of anything during dinner as his stomach was feeling full and bloated. We have read that higher altitude can sometimes affect a person’s appetite so maybe this is what was happening. Later that evening as we attempted to sleep in a 26 bed mixed dorm, Mike fought off the urge to vomit. After a restless night in cramped sleeping quarters with 24 other people, we began our climb to the summit around 6 a.m. It had rained the night before at the refuge which meant snow at the top. As we gained altitude, the snow slowly went from a light dusting to about a foot in depth. Also, strangely enough, Mike began to feel better the higher we got. We reached the final pass before the summit at about 9 a.m. It was possible to see the pyramid marking the summit from this spot and it was also possible to see that someone with a fear of heights would have some trouble getting to the actual summit itself. So, here is where Mike stopped as Michele hiked the last 15 minutes with Tariq. Here is a picture of Michele at the summit at 13,750 feet (taken by Tariq).
On our fourth and final day we got a bit of a late start (about 7:30 a.m.) heading back down to Imili. On the way down, we stopped for snacks and tea at a home in another Berber village. We ate bread and butter made from their cow’s milk and apples from their tree. Here is a picture of the village.
After our snack, we headed out for the final 45 minutes back to Imlil. Our mule had also been having a snack while we were stopped and was actually still doing so as Mike, Michele and Tariq started to walk away from the house. The mule was standing and eating in such a position that we had to walk behind it on the way out of the yard. Just as Mike got within 2 feet of its back legs, it began to buck and kick. Mike took two steps back but the mule seemed to reposition itself so that Mike was still within kicking distance. Mike quickly took a several more steps backward up a slight incline before tripping over a rock embedded in the walkway and falling on his backside. No injuries, cuts or bruises, just some dirt on the jacket but this event provided some entertainment for the our team and the onlooking locals.
After this incident, Mike kept his distance from the mule. We arrived back in Imlil at around 1 p.m. without further incident and shortly thereafter took the bus back to Marrakech.
Since Monday, Oct 10th we have been hanging out in Marrakesh (as it is spelled in English). Yesterday we wandered through the narrow, winding alleyways of the medina and looked at all the shops. Here one can buy live turkeys, porcupines, iguanas, 100 different spices, sunglasses, shampoo, blenders, light fixtures, and sheep heads. And of course there was the never ending offers of hash directed towards Mike, whom the locals call Ali Baba. To quote one man, “Good stuff Ali Baba? Some hashish?”
Gotta go to the train station now…bye!
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Tags: Category #15: Morocco
Michele Harmon
Hey guys, I’ve been following your adventures and have been able to live vicariously through all of them, but I think this particular trip is among your best, in terms of the pictures, the descriptions of what you did and what happened (both the humorous and otherwise). Keep up the great work with these blogs; they are fantastic!!
Yeah, ya know – when this trip was first being put together, i didn’t think that i would have wanted to go. The length of time, and all the planning and preparation – just not my style. But as time goes on here, i’m becoming more and more jealous! Hope you’re having fun (and it sounds like you are).
“Good stuff Ali Baba? Some hashish?”
That is tooo funny :). I think Mike is going to have a new nick name when he gets back…
It sounds like you guys are having a blast, and thannks for keeping the rest of us up to date.
This was the first time I checked out your blog. Anstr posted the HOT/COLD pictures of the two of you, and I had to check it out. Excellent reports. You should become journalists for OUTSIDE, instead of working as researchers. I did have to scroll back up while reading one section— I thought you had written, “…and Michele, our cook.” That could have been a very, very bad thing.
Not much running for me. I’ve had P.F. all summer and haven’t run much since Capon Valley in May. I went out for 16 miles on the AT today, near Harper’s Ferry. It hurt like hell, but it was such a beautiful autumn day that I couldn’t help myself.
I started my doctoral program at Maryland in September. It’s lots of fun, I’m learning tons of new material, and meeting some fascinating classmates, but man, I’m too old to read and retain 500+ pages of material every week.
Vaya con Dios.
BRIAN
Don’t you just love the market in Marrakech? You can trully buy EVERYTHING, and really cheap too.. I love the cities, but I’m always too lazy to go to the mountains, but then I regret it when I see picture like this of Michael at the summit.. It really looks great! You must have enjoyed it!