Tafraout

We picked Tafraout out of many small and unknown dots on our map. I'd taken two weeks off of my training life in Alaska to explore Morocco with a friend and fellow math major from Whitman College. I thought the mental and physical break would be good for me especially since with such a good spring of skiing I hadn't really yet taken a break from training. Plus, I feel it's important for me to get out and experience the world.

We fell in love with Tafraout and ended up staying almost twice as long as we'd originally planned. The rocks were breathtakingly amazing, having been carved into eerie formations by the elements. We rented mountain bikes to visit rock formations, small villages, isolated oases, and ruined kasbahs. I ran into the surrounding mountains to play on the jungle gym of rocks. We swam in our hotel pool during the hottest part of the day and relaxed with a scrumptious tajine in the evenings. Once the day cooled enough we would relax on a terrace with a cup of hot chocolate or some of the delicious house yogurt that every restaurant in Morocco keeps on hand.



We "discovered" a cluster of crumbling, abandoned buildings to explore.

Old pottery in the abandoned Kasbah.

I dust off an old piece of leather from a Moroccan slipper.

Prehistoric rock carving of an antelope.

Newer rock carving

Blacktail Ridge near Eagle River, AK

A hiker descending toward Eagle River, AK.

I had a beautiful hike up near Eagle River except that it was SNOWING on me for part of the time. In fact it snowed me out of the higher mountains and back to the lower tundra.