Worst Hike Ever!

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We left Marrakech around 9:30 am by taxi, with a new driver (the one we had booked had his cousin? take us instead). He turned out to be great, driving carefully and asking politely if we wished to stop at any of the dozens of tourist traps we passed. We did agree to go into an argan oil women's coop, where Lynn bought oil that is maybeargan and had a great 6 minute massage. We arrived in Setti Fadma around 11:30am and were immediately accosted for hotel/guide/restaurant help. We finally escaped and found a hotel for about $35/night. We next set off to do the famed 7 waterfalls hike. There are no signs for the trail which begins somewhere in the maze of riverfront restaurants, and we attracted the attention of a very persistant guide. I finally told him that I wanted to be alone with my husband, and that didn't even work. We finally gave up and went back to the road, which appeared to convince him that we were so stupid that we weren't worth his time! We could then see the trail and headed back on the right pathway. And the bad times began...

Even though it was a weekday, there were hundreds of people on the trail. The trail was very rough and rocky to begin with and the rocks were polished to a glass-like slipperyness by the passage of thousands of feet. At times, we were stuck in traffic jams of human bodies....along the better parts of the path, there were shops and places to eat....We made it to the first falls and turned back, feeling lucky that Bill only hyper-extended his knee once....

I went out before dinner as the town emptied out, and had a nice half hour with a local merchant looking at fossils and jewelry. I bought some fossils (that might be real), but no jewelry...

That night was cold...no heat, but mounds of blankets on our bed...love sleeping warm in a cold room!

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Photos

Woman's Cooperative
I couldn't tell if any of this was authentic..but it was fun...here I'm grinding the argan nuts...

On our way to the mountains
Our street....

Road to Setti Fadma
Once we left Marrakech and the plains, we followed this river into the mountains and to Setti Fadma.

High Atlas Mountains
Snow on the further peaks

Waterfall Hike
All along the trail, vendors had different ways to display their drinks and keep cold with mountain water.

Waterfall Trail
A tangine restaurant right on the trail. Why don't we have this in the Cascades?

First Waterfall....
This is where we turned around.

Almost down
Bill just hurt his knee....

Stone carver tools
I bought a tiny cat....

End of trail
Glad I saw this after I walked across...

View from Hotel terrace
Women dress in all degrees of coverings: from none to full burka

Comments

[George]

That hike looked
pretty interesting. G