Ait Oudinar is the village where the Dades valley stops being a pleasant river road and starts to behave like a gorge. The Dades river, running down from the High Atlas, has cut through red and ochre rock here, leaving walls, towers and odd, weathered shapes, and the village sits among them with palms, fields of barley and a scatter of mud-brick houses in the bottom of the valley. The nearest towns are Tinghir to the east and Kelaat Mgouna, a market town of some fourteen thousand people, to the west, and fuel is available in both.
The road up the gorge is narrow, winding and fun. The tarmac is generally decent, with patches of rough surface and drifted gravel, and the corners are tight and often blind, with trucks, tour minibuses and donkeys coming the other way. Past Ait Oudinar, the cliffs close in and the road begins a series of bends along the river, with villages tucked into side valleys and kasbahs standing on the ridges. Early morning is lovely, when the light is soft on the rock and the village is just waking up, while afternoons can be hot and dusty. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, and winter brings cold nights and occasional snow in the high valleys.
The valley is Amazigh country, and the families here have farmed it for centuries. Their houses are built of pise, packed earth, in a style that merges with the cliffs, and many of the old kasbahs, with their corner towers and decorated walls, were built as fortified family homes. Some now serve as guesthouses, where you can eat tagine and drink mint tea on a roof terrace as the sun goes down. The valley was a route for caravans between the Atlas and the Sahara, and the kasbahs gave shelter and protection to traders.
The best-known local landmark is a set of rock formations called the Monkey Fingers, long, rounded columns of stone that stand above the village, and a short walk takes you among them. The geology is the result of erosion by wind and water on layered red sandstone and clay. The valley is also the start of the Rose Valley, farther west, where the damask rose is grown for oil and water, and blooms in spring.
Fill the tank in Tinghir or Kelaat Mgouna, since stations in the gorge are rare. Bring water, a hat and a light jacket for the evening, and ride carefully on the bends, where gravel and livestock are common.