Rains from a couple days prior canceled my canyoning trip due to high cold flow so I laid in bed, considering whether I drive South to see how the Anti-Atlas Mountains transition to the Sahara Desert. Browsing on some maps I pieced together an unexpectedly fulfilling day following Aoukerda Canyon 30 miles from deep gorge to giant floodplain while visiting a huge window, a sculpted Berber tunnel, rock art and only seeing one other tourist.
Grand Canyon of Aoukerda
While the mouth of “The Grand Canyon of Aoukerda” starts in truth at Agoujgal four miles North, it really gains its Arizona canyon aesthetics around Aoukerda with its winding nature and terraced orange layers that make the comparison to the Grand Canyon obvious, even if it only gets to a maximum 1,000 ft deep.
The view OF the huge 40’ x 40’ “Window of Life” (A bit much, but hey this is what Google says it is in English and Arabic) off the winding road to Aoukerda is quite impressive. However, it’s walking a short distance to another viewpoint off the road that provides the real view of the impressive windy, tight walled canyon.
Driving a road under heavy construction after multiple washouts, I reach Aoukerda and just park beside some building as the only tourist there. My goal was to explore the upper gorge section starting with a beautiful carved tunnel shortcut through it. Water runs along the floor, spilling onto cut steps before dropping into an oasis pool.
After this, I was just going to run the canyon for a few miles to see what it was like. It was so cool to get off trail with no beta and feel authentic exploration. I only made it 1.5 miles until I had to turn around due to an impassable pool, but I was feeling really grateful for having the skills, fitness, health and experience to explore rural desert canyon landscapes like this in an unfamiliar environment.
Floodplains and Confluences
It’s six miles North and another 10 miles South in Regional Road 107 before I get to see where I left off on my run. The walls to the canyon are highest here and I am drawn to hike down from the road to get a better view. I’m pretty sure I spot the descent for Canyon Arakouk.
In the next couple miles, the canyon really starts to open up. It links up with a confluence of a massive floodplain and widens to a quarter mile across. It is hard to imagine how it got this wide when there is no water currently flowing in it.
Petroglyphs and Canyon-end
I am near the end of my journey tracing the canyon’s journey as I park in Kasbah Ait Herbil. It is 85 degrees in mid-winter as I run out of town to see some Petrogylphs I spotted on both Gaia and Google Maps. There are multiple sites up and down these canyons. I jump the flood wall, run across the floodplain and spot the dozen and half pictures of cattle and goats. There is little evidence of anyone visiting them, but hey they have reviews on Google Maps that date them from 2,000 BC (source needed)!
I drive just a little further as the floodplain spills out into the desert towards a weakness of the last large hilly barrier before everything becomes flat open scrub desert. I pass a man shepherding a group of camels and dust devils along the road before I turn around.
I am new to this having a car and driving internationally thing and I really appreciated how it enabled the spontaneity and opportunity for this whole day. There were some warnings about driving in Morocco, but outside of major cities, it’s been great! The paved section might only be 1.5 cars in width half the time, but the overall road has less potholes than driving around Tahoe.
