This is fun

After making  it over the atlas mountains I restocked in "Morocco's Hollywood " and then took a recommendation to head to Finnt, a desert oasis where I treated myself to some Berber hospitality and took a rest day (video of drumming dudes were workers at the hotel).  I left the next evening and had a sunset ride on the dirt road to another undeveloped  oasis where I camped under the milkyway.  The next day I was crossing open and barren desert in 105° heat until I got to the Dadés River valley.  The next day was spent riding through picturesque towns in and out of the Dades Gorge.  I made full use of the cool morning  and evenings and found a nice spot to pitch a hammock during  the afternoon.   

Today, I woke up at the sources the Dades,  and started heading up over the atlas mountains up above amazing canyon landscapes butting against  dramatic mountains.  There was nothing for 60km, and the whole time I was on the "piste" road i only saw the following  people: Three women on foot with heavily loaded pack mules, a couple on a scooter, a car, a truck, three goat herders, camels, a nomadic  family, and another truck. It was a dirt road, but actually I kind if get it now, the whole gravel riding thing.   This road was perfect.   Challenging in all the fun ways without the road ripples and sand traps.   The ascent was long, with the hardest non-stop section climbing 900m over 12km of especially technical gravel roads.  10,000ft elevation at the pass.  The descent was a ton of fun, there were super technical  sections  where I was standing up and and riding the brakes hard (I love this bike).   And there were other times where I was just cruising in top gear on hard clay and gravel, even catching some actual air several times hoping little road bulges.  I even did some semi-technical single track riding on the switchback  short cuts.   Full suspension without panniers would have been a blast, but there's something  pretty  satisfying  about doing it with this rig.  I stopped at the first sign of civilization I saw which was a little  cafe run by some young dudes, one of them spoke Spanish.   I hate and hung out and played guitar for a few hours, then descended the last 16km of dirt roads to the first of a string of towns (and the beginning *spotty* asphalt). These towns were definitely way different  from the ones on the other side of the pass, seemingly  much poorer, and the people looked more turkic.  The people in these upper mountain towns, and the herders and nomads I saw on the pass definitely made the whole thing feel way more foreign then before.  The rest of Morocco has kind of just felt like Europe built out of adobe, with an Arab twist.  Except the desert part... that was nuts.  These mountains felt like a world that the west hasn't influenced at all, a culture that is completely foreign to anything I have any idea about.  Plus lots if kids screemed and chased after me asking for stuff, which is annoying, but I landed a couple of solid high fives.  Now I'm back down to about 7,000ft in the middle of the mountain range, back in the sort of towns I'm more used to.   I'm gonna spend another $20 for a hotel with a shower and meals and wifi.   No complaints here.  5 stars.

Day 3: The day my perfect stealth camping record was lost.

This evening I climbed a ton of elevation and took some nice long rests.   The days are so hot I thought it might be a good idea to do more riding in the early morning and late evening.   After a great meal at a scenic overlook I did some descending in the cool evening air.   I passed by some potentially decent camp spots but I was feeling like continuing.   After the descent the road immediately went to shit.   Major construction work was being done, and that also meant all the areas on either side of the road were inassessable. Eventually as it was about to be dark enough to warrant getting lights out, I pulled over to look at a potential spot along the river.   There was another guy chilling there on a bicycle and he told me I should go back to the last town I passed and sleep there because the river is dangerous and the road is bad ahead.   I really  should have just kept going...  I told him I preferred to sleep here and then he pointed out another spot, behind a giant rock that was not so bad.   He said he worked security for the town/construction and he would prefer I went back to the town but this would be ok too.  I thanked him and started setting up my tent.  He left.   45 minutes or so later two other guys came, they wouldn't have seen me from the road so they must have been tipped off by bike guy.   They also were security officials (actually just one was, the other came along to help translate).  They also said it wasn't safe here.   Thieves, murderers etc etc. Apparently a couple years ago two Norwegian tourists were killed in a town called Imlil, which is like 40 miles away, also in the mountains.... Bitch I'm from the 9th ward, fuck off and let me sleep.  I told him I feel safe here and I would prefer to stay.   After some back and fourth he called his boss and after taking pictures of my passport they said I could stay here, and apologized for bothering me and for scaring me (they didn't).  "Good night, thanks!"   Then, about another 45 minutes later, after I'm nearly asleep, three actual police came.   I heard them pull over and it took them another 10 minutes or so until they actually found me.   God damnit, y'all are starting to piss me off.   Everyone was very friendly, but still, come on!  They told me it was very dangerous because of the river (no mention of thievery etc)   Apparently there was a land slide earlier today, they showed me pictures, which didn't really look like anything other then construction work.  my guess is it was equally due to the construction and the river.  He said the weather can change at any minute here in the mountains...   It was perfectly clear, and there was no rain in the forecast at all... Plus the river was bending such that if any eroding riverbanks were to be avoided it would have been the opposite side of the river.  This was absolutely not a dangerous spot for anything river related.   I tried reasoning with them for a while but they were firm and eventually I just gave in.  They assured me I wouldn't have to pay for a place to stay.   At this point I just want to go to sleep, and I'm thinking they're going to take me to a room at the police office or something like that.   I packed all my shit up, which isn't that fun when you just finished setting everything up like 15 minutes ago, and rode the mile or so back downhill to the tiny Town, surprised to see it was still bustling, at 11:30pm.   When we got into the town I pulled over and asked the cops, who were following me, where I should go.  They had no fucking idea... Fuck.    Security guy number two was waiting there, and they asked him and he just walked across the road to a little ditch and the pointed to a little area walled in on three sides, full of trash, smelled like piss, completely visible from the very loud road, and clearly a spot where people come to collect water.   You gotta be shitting me.   They said " you can sleep anywhere, is this okay? it's totally safe here!" I said this sucks, but I don't know where else I can go in this town, so if this is what you're going to offer me then I'll take it and leave me alone already.   They had nothing.   I told them to just leave me alone and let me sleep, I was pissed.   Once they walked away I looked around the area for a better spot and there really wasn't anything at all.   I went in to one of the abandoned cement dirt floor rooms which was providing one of the three walls for the original spot.  There was even more trash in there as well as a few puppies.   At least it had four walls and was quieter, and well hidden.   I started moving my stuff there and security guy #2 and a new English speaking guy started telling me that it was bad there because the dogs were dangerous.  Puppies.  Fucking puppies.  Granted, the language barrier was pretty huge, and I don't think they actually meant to say dangerous.   They also said it smelled, but I was so sick of these guys "looking after me" so I said it was fine, but actually it smelled really fucking bad...  So then I jumped up on the roof, where the young English speaking guy was, and it looked like the best option, so I said I would just sleep up on the roof, and that seemed to satisfy everyone.   So now it's 12:30,  and this town is just as busy and noisy, if not buissier then it was when I originally passed through it at like 8pm.   I'm just sitting up on this roof, not going to be able to to sleep... English speaking bro is still up on the same roof, now with 3 buddies smoking hash.  So yeah ...   It's an experience, not fun, but it's an experience.   In all my years of stealth camping I've never ever had any people give me shit... There goes my perfect record.... 

1am update... There's still mother fuckers selling cactus fruit....   I guess this is a spot where busses stop to let people out to pee and get tea etc, so everyone here is just waiting around trying to sell shit.   Apparently the busses Keep coming all night until 4am... Yay.  And the honking... every bus wakes up the entire town when it rolls in by honking  like a pisssed off soccer mom.   Oh, and I've seen like a dozen people come take a piss where the cops told me to sleep since I've been sitting up here.

Up until these shenanigans, today was actually pretty great.  I had a chill morning in the hostel in Marakech, smoked some of the hash I bought the day before and started riding out.   Marakesh was cool to ride through on a bike but that's it.  I got creative and fashioned a sunshade poncho thing with the airplane blanket.  I ate some good food. And the hills were beautiful.   I got some diarrhea... I guess I shouldn't be drinking the water they give me at these restaurants where goat carcasses are just hanging up, outside, not refrigerated at all.  Doesn't seem too bad though, my guess is I'll be good to go tomorrow.

Day one: The Chalmette of Casablanca

I've been waiting for the past month or so to get fully pumped.  I thought the excitement would kick in once I asembled the bike and peddled out of the airport.  But it didn't.   I was in a daze, after not sleeping in 24 hours, with the night before that spent sleeping on a bench in the airport.   It took me a full two hours to assemble the bike and pack it all up, and by the time I finished the cool morning had turned into blazing hot summer sun.  Instead of heading 20km north to Casablanca, I headed south into depressing industrial and agricultural landscapes and eventually a small town.  The Chalmette of Casablanca.  Still in braindead autopilot mode I stopped at a bank to change money, and then one of the cafes for an espresso and fingers crossed for some sort of delicious breakfast food.   The friendly waiter brought me over the standard stuff, and then spilled steamed milk on he table and me.   No biggie.  After some sitting and some caffeine I was starting to get my head in the game.  I tried to pay my tab but the waiter refused to accept any money.  As I rode through this strange and ugly town, with no main attractions,  no notable architecture, along side mad-max style motor-trikes, donkeys, and people just going about their days, I finally broke out into a smile, which turned into laughing out loud at how rediculous my situation is.   "What the fuck am I doing!?" I said out loud mid laugh.   I quickly passed the town and with a mild tail wind just got to biking.   Highlights include a tractor pulling a trailer full of people banging on drums, and a little kid walking down the street that reached out for a high five, which landed perfectly.   I'm 50km into the trip.  In the next little town, stopped for lunch at a very disappointing shawarma spot now as I'm typing this.   I'll probably ride another 50km to a river which looks like promising hammock camping.   Tomorrow I'll wake up to this new rediculous life, likely with a smile on my face.   I think I'm going to drink a lot of coffee in Morocco...