Salt Seeking Runner

One of the hotel employees highly recommended a visit to the salt mines in Ouirgane. I loved the idea from the onset. She suggested we follow Berber Trails rather than take walk along the street. The well-trodden paths form a labyrinth which quickly spun me out of sorts, leaving me a wee bit lost. Forty minutes into the run and no salt mine in sight, I decided to try another day and to focus on finding the way back to the hotel.

The following morning, in preparation for another attempt at the denied destination, I asked another person at the hotel and received slightly different directions. Mental map ready, I sought out the salt mines. A resort, two hotels and three villages later, the salt mine continued to elude me. This day I had lots of time, so I cut across the tree-filled valley and joined trekking trails. I ran along a perilous ridge until I nearly went over a STEEP drop off (really). Footing secured, the vantage point gave view of a mountaintop that seemed only twenty minutes away.

Time can prove dangerous with too much or too little. I scrambled up the steep rocky face. The mountain's peak proved misleading. Beyond it loomed another charge I estimated to take ten more minutes to summit. So, again I scaled the increasingly difficult uphill terrain. At last the top fell under my feet and three valleys into my view. Stunning doesn't begin to get at it.

See the world differently. Run.

Tom

Post script- While walking Shannan and I finally found the salt mine. No one mentioned it had been abandoned for years. The destination disappointed, but the walk through the woods and over the river was well with the time.