We started off from Hotel Ellouze. The picture below is the entrance to the Hotel. We rode through the various alley ways to get to Hotel for the night. As you can see, the ways were made with earth, clay, straw.
Of course, what good is a hotel in the Atlas Mountains without a pack of Camels to keep you company :>.
We transferred to the start of our ride by vehicle. We quickly turn off tarmac onto a rocky, dirt road starting up the red dirt hills boarding the Atlas Mountains.
The previous night it had snowed in the high Atlas mountains as shown below. The red rock, green valley and snow graced peaks, made for stunning scenery. As the trip goes on, the terrain changes nearly every hour or so.
Here is a picture of me riding with amazing scenery in the background.
Here is a group shot on Day 2 of the mountain bike ride. We looked a little different on Day 5 of Mountain biking.
Our fearless guide Charlie tried to roll over this gap and flatted out. So after scoping the landing, I decided I needed clear this. I cleared the gap with no flats. Landing on loose gravel on off camber slopes makes for sketchy landing.
After some good single track it was time for lunch. Our guides always had an awesome place with shade tucked away from the main roads. After lunch, the instructions were to take a left after we pass a small village with a half built house colored light pink to tan. The funny part about this was that every village we passed had a 1/2 built house lightly pink to tan color.
It seemed like this hill would never end. A nice long grind up the hill. We decided this was the village with the 1/2 built pink/tan house. The terrain had changed again. We stopped and waited for the chase vehicles to catch up where they were going ahead to prepare the obligatory "tea" stop.
This tea was rocket fuel. Moroccans like their sugar with their tea. The tea sugar mix had to be just under the saturation point of sugar in water. It was served in shot glasses and that is all about a person could stand. An amazing pick-me-up for the next hour riding. Good thing we weren't diabetic.
Charlie (guide) and I decided to ride the rest of the hill and arrived before the rest of the group. A couple of people walked the next 4 miles, others got a ride 1/2 up the hill and walked the remaining 2 miles. Active group. Abdula (cook) went ahead and sent up with food tent and we found a pair of nomadic herdsmen strolling on through the area. We are now on the Shirwa Plateau in an amazing location.
The surrounding area was amazing. The moon was full, the sun was golden. Awesome night.
This picture says it all. Camping, biking, great moon, golden sunset.
We were way up in elevation so it was getting cold at night. We started a fire and had a relaxing evening.
So I brought my tripod out and it decided to fall apart. So the below pictures are of the fire taken by a mono pod or what was left of my tripod.
Another great fire picture.
End of day 2 of Mountain Biking. Camping on the Shirwa plateau.
2 comments:
As you know, I LOVE your photos. This post, however, would not allow me to enlarge the pictures....don't know whether it is my computer or something you did differently in the uploading process.
Being that you are such a "youngster", I am hoping to follow your adventures for years to come!
Thanks Kayowe. It won't allow me to enlarge the photos either. Will take a look into it.
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