Today is once again Hash Monday. I’m not going to do the trail though. Not even going to try. I have my reasons.

Three strikes and I’m out. I’ll be doing my own hike this afternoon and will attend the On-Home activities afterward at Queen Victoria.

Not sure where I’ll hike today, but yesterday I took a Jeepney to Subic town and did a 9K walk back home from there.

You can Relive the hike here:

I’ll probably go in the opposite direction today and see what there is to see.

A hard truth about dating, although I guess it cuts both ways.

Of course, the woman currently professing her love for me is NOT single. Should I change my luck?

I’m sure there will be new and better adventures to come. Or should I say train wrecks?

Welp, yesterday got away from me, that’s for sure. What is normally my “lazy Tuesday” was so full I didn’t have time for a nap or a post here. Sorry about that. I’ll do a post later this afternoon about what was keeping me so busy.

I did want to slap up the photos from Monday’s Hash for those of you who enjoy the scenery in these parts. It was actually a very nice trail, at least the part I did. Familiar territory, but an area I enjoy hiking. Here you go:

I’ll be back with more after my Wednesday Walkers hike. See you then!

Hashing during rainy season is always hit and miss. I mean, our motto includes “rain or shine”, but sometimes that means doing a pub crawl rather than a trail. It wasn’t that extreme yesterday, but because it had been raining on and off all day long, our “sick, lame, and sane” group decided to forgo the Hare’s trail which included a mountain climb. We stuck to the pavement but did a hike almost as long as the actual route laid by Leech My Nuggets.

On-Home was at Derelict’s place on Rizal Extension. His health hasn’t been the best lately, and he wasn’t looking good yesterday. Just before the circle started someone took him to the hospital in Angeles City. Hope they can cure what ails him there.

Derelict has a one-bedroom unit on his property that he rents out. His tenant was there yesterday and wanted to join in with the Hash activities. So, he met the only requirement for doing so–the 350 peso entry fee–and that was that. It is rare that I meet a person that just strikes me as not all there, and even worse, not all there in a bad way. This guy was obnoxious, argumentative, creepy, and honestly, he struck me as potentially dangerous. I kept my distance but overheard some of the shit he was saying and it left me with an uneasy feeling.

After the Hash was over, one of the Hashers discovered her phone was missing. Hmm. I wonder who is the most likely suspect? No evidence, just a suspicion. The victim is also my part-time employee and lives in my basement maid’s quarters. I took her shopping today and bought her a new phone.

Here are a few photos for your enjoyment:

Anyway, the rain and the theft put a damper on the evening. It will be better next week. I’m one of the Hares and we’ll have a trail suitable for hiking when wet.

A somewhat unusual Hash experience yesterday. Leech My Nuggets was the Hare and he laid a trail that was relatively easy compared to what he normally puts us through. It was long though, coming in at 10K. Of course, I’m in the “sane” group and we shortcut when and where we please. Our version of the trail was a comfortable 6K. What made it different was that through a misunderstanding or bad assumptions, we did the trail in reverse. We started in Alta Vista because our intel told us the trail passed through the neighborhood shortly after leaving the starting point at the VFW. Nope, turns out Alta Vista was near the end of the trail. Oops! It made following the marks much more difficult, especially the chalk arrows that were all pointing in the wrong direction and were usually out of sight unless we turned and looked behind us. Anyway, we overcame the challenge and made a nice hike of it.

But wait, there’s more! At the conclusion of the Hash circle, I caught a trike for home. Except his machine wasn’t powerful enough to make it up the last hill to my place. No big deal, I paid him and got out to walk the rest of the way. But when I looked up I saw this:

I’m looking forward to a Joyous afternoon. I’ll write about that tomorrow. See you then!

Girl.

I had the pleasant experience of receiving my first massage under the hands of Judy, the gal I a couple of weeks ago. She rode her scooter to my place this afternoon, although she wasn’t able to follow the simple directions I provided and got turned around here in the subdivision. Oh well. She’s not a great conversationalist either, but let’s just say she has other talents that left me completely satisfied. When she departed she told me she was heading to the store to buy food for her kids, so I guess it worked out well for both of us. I’m sure I’ll be inclined to help her out again in the future.

I got up and off of another mountain during yesterday’s Hash. It didn’t compare with today’s adventure, but it was still quite pleasant. I had gotten a preview of the trail on Wednesday’s hike, which is a good thing because the earlier rain had obliterated many of the powder markings making parts of the intended path hard to follow.

With the advantage of foresight, I also made the decision to shortcut one of the downs and ups. I figured the mud in both directions would take the fun out of that part of the hike. Otherwise, it was not a bad trail at all, coming in at right under 6K, just the way I like it!

And so ended the one thousand four hundred and fifty-second running of the Subic Bay Hash.

I didn’t do yesterday’s Hash trail. I wasn’t alone in deciding to go my own way. Seven others joined me for a pleasant hike in the rain, clocking in with a mostly flat 7K walkabout. It was the right call. By the Hare’s own admission, out of 60 Hashers, only five chose to do the entire trail. Granted, twenty+ others did the first hill, then rode the Hashmobile back to our On-Home. Still, you might say that people voted with their feet in making the rational decision that prudence precludes doing insane shit at the behest of the Hare.

I’ve seen the pictures and I definitely made the right call. To begin, the Hashmobile was jammed packed. If my group had shown up there wouldn’t have been room for everyone. I hate riding in the back of that truck anyway, but a long haul out to the trailhead over rough roads was a non-starter for me, notwithstanding the difficulty of the trail itself. The pictures showed some tough rock scaling and wading through water. No thank you!

Some people give me shit about being a wuss and say it is disrespectful to the Hare to take out a group of Hashers on my own trail. Bullshit! I Hash to have fun, not to prove how manly I am by risking life and limb by putting myself in unsafe situations. Been there, done that, and I ain’t doing it no more. I honestly don’t begrudge a Hare like Guenter doing the kind of trail he personally prefers. I just expect the same consideration when I choose to do things my way.

Anyway, no hard feelings really on my part. Last night I was awarded a new Hash patch:

Not many pictures this week since I was not on the official trail, but here’s a few for your perusal:

San Miguel Zero beer was not available, so I was downing San Mig Light (5% alcohol versus my usual 3%). I neglected to moderate my intake accordingly and wound up a little more inebriated than normal. Laid down on the floor for a bit when I got back home and woke up feeling just dandy this morning.

My afternoon today had a bit of twist. I’ll share that story tomorrow.

The first climb on yesterday’s Hash trail was insane. Hands and knees crazy. Pulling myself up by grabbing hold of the grass in front of me nuts. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience–I’d have to be a lunatic to attempt that ascent again, and I’m just not that bonkers.

It didn’t have to be that way. Pubic Head, the putative leader of our “sane” Hash group, tried to warn us. But the rest of our group had already gone forward and from where I stood it looked steep but doable. Pubic Head wound up breaking his trekking pole, so turned back before the real beserk shit started. It’s good that he did. His first words when I saw him at our On-Home venue was “I told you so.” Yes, you did. I’ll listen to you next time for sure.

So, having survived that climb, the trail (or at least the part I did) wasn’t bad. A lot of it was the familiar “My Bitch” terrain, although the down was new to me. Once back on the flat ground I made the determination that I’d had enough, and we shortcut our way back to Da’Kudo’s for the Hash circle festivities. I probably completed a little over 5K of a 9K trail. No regrets about not doing more.

Here are some photos:

I’ll tell you about my Joy full day today, tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

I survived another Hash yesterday. Barely. I exaggerate, but damn, at the start, it was as hot as I remember it ever being. Later in the day some clouds rolled in and thunder rumbled, but no raindrops fell on my sweaty head. If the weather forecasts are to be believed, we’ll be seeing some monsoon-like rains here by next week. Can hardly wait!

The trail itself was on the short side, around 5K. It featured two moderate climbs, a lot of which consisted of steps. The biggest challenge was the portions that were covered in bamboo leaves, making the path treacherously slippery. Despite my best efforts to be prudent, I did take a fall. It could have been worse, but as I was sliding down the steep side of the mountain on my ass, I managed to reach out and grab a tree trunk. It was tough enough getting back up on the trail from where I wound up–not sure what I would have done had I slid all the way down to the bottom. And to think that just the other day I was complaining about the lack of excitement in my life. Yesterday’s adventure ought to hold me over in that regard for a while, I reckon.

Let’s go to the photos, shall we?

The On-Home was at the Alta Vista community center. Once again, my chili sold out; that’s the best review possible. Hmm, it just occurred to me the review could also mean, “I was so damn hungry I actually ate that shit!”. Well, there were other choices available:

All in all, it was a pretty good day. Got some exercise, didn’t die falling down a mountain, and drank lots of beers. Does it get any better than that?

Three straight days of Hashing has resulted in three consecutive posts here about Hashing. I’m not sure which is harder to endure. This is the last one until next week, I promise!

Perhaps the most interesting thing to happen took place at our sign-up venue, the VFW. A youngish guy (comparatively speaking, probably in his 40s) came in and was asking about joining the Hash. I let the Grandmaster do the explaining, but later as the guy was leaving he said, “you’re McCrarey, aren’t you?” I nodded and asked how he knew my name, he responded “I’ve read your blog.” I asked him how he happened upon my humble ramblings and he told me he just did a Google search for pictures of Barretto. It’s a little scary being reminded that I’m not quite as anonymous as I think I am. Oh, well. From day one of blogging I believed if you didn’t put your name on what you wrote, it didn’t deserve to be read. Back then I was more political, having your name publically associated with what is essentially a diary is a little more uncomfortable. I’m not going to censor myself, although I might try to be a bit more discrete discreet on some topics so people other than me are not identifiable. It’s a small town and in some ways it’s small-minded.

The Hash trail itself was nothing to complain about. Familiar territory, but some new paths. That’s always a nice touch. Our shortcutting efforts backfired and we wound up adding a couple of extra kilometers in an effort to avoid a hot climb. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Here are some photos for your enjoyment:

And now a quick break in the action to meet the girls:

Alright then, now where were we?

Things went awry for my group a short time later. We missed a right turn and took a left. So we made our own way back, but it wasn’t as pleasant as what the Hares had prepared for us.

And there you have it. Still taking a break from darts, I might go back to that next week. Tonight I hear It Doesn’t Matter calling to me.

The Angeles City Corona Hash outstation run has been successfully completed. By that I mean it appears everyone survived which is never a sure thing when Guenter is the Hare. His trail took over 5 hours to complete and involved several big mountain climbs. A few folks came back covered in dirt and with some scrapes and bruises from falling. I’m told one of the downhills was so steep that sliding on your ass was the only viable way to get down. Well, not for me, but most of the folks who did that trail seemed to enjoy the challenge.

I got drafted to help mark the “sane” trail. It was a 6K jaunt up the paved road to Tibag and back again. We did have a 1K section that was off-road, but nothing real challenging other than the first half being gently all uphill. We started marking at 11:30 and finished just before the scheduled 1:00 p.m. start time (the folks braving Guenter’s long trail had started at 10:00). We were basically camping out riverside in the middle of nowhere so it was surprising when our group was confronted by a couple of armed soldiers. They asked what we were doing (hiking) and if we had a permit from the barangay in Naugsol (no). I guess they decided we were not terrorists or otherwise a threat because they wished us well and continued on with their patrol.

The only interesting event I experienced on the short trail was stepping on this:

So, I’m walking along and I feel something sharp poking me in the foot, kind of like having a rock in your shoe, only pointed I shook my foot around some trying to dislodge whatever was stabbing me, to no avail. I had no choice but to remove my shoe.

I stepped on that wire in such a way that it fit perfectly into the tread of my shoe, almost as if it was designed for that purpose. The short pointed end went through the sole of my shoe and poked me in the foot. It wasn’t quite long enough to penetrate through the cushion inside the shoe (or pierce my skin) but made it impossibly uncomfortable to walk. Pulling that wire out was reminiscent of the dentist trying to yank my tooth, but I managed to free my shoe of this unwanted intruder. Call it fate or maybe Karma, but that wire had to be perfectly positioned in the dirt and I had to step on it in precisely the right way in order for it to have the impact it did. What are the odds?

Let’s get to the good stuff–pictures from the Subic Hash Facebook page from yesterday’s event.

I’m running late for today’s Subic Hash. I’ll be back tomorrow with more!

Yesterday’s hike with the Corona Hashers from Angeles turned out to be a beach walk. Not real surprising, I suppose. I had it in mind that we would be hiking from the Treasure Island meet-up and finishing at the Da’ Kudos On-Home venue. That was true for the long (10K) trail, but the 5K trail I took required a truck ride out to barangay Kalaklan, then basically just following the beach all the way back to Baloy. I’d done that hike numerous times, but not recently. Yesterday was a good reminder of why I don’t take the beach route more often. I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

Today I’ll also being Hashing with the Angeles crew. This time we are meeting up in Tibag. There are three trails–long, medium, and short; I’ll be taking the short route which doesn’t involve climbing the highest mountain in the area (up to Tralala). Should be fun, regardless. I like the area and we will be doing a cookout and enjoying our beers out there in the wilds.

Full report tomorrow!

I’ve never been there, so I can’t attest that it was hotter than hell on yesterday’s Hash. Hot enough for a governmental heat warning to be issued, not that that stopped us. Apparently, it was 95 degrees. and the heat index made it feel like 107. Yeah, it’s been hot lately, but I do most of my walking in the mornings. The Hash starts at 2:00 which apparently is the peak time of the day for hotness. When I hit the 3K mark it felt like I had been nearly drained of energy, and every step I took was harder than the last. For the first time in my Hash career, I actually stopped at a sari-sari store for some Gatorade.

No complaints about the actual trail, or the portion I did anyway. I took a shortcut that eliminated a climb and a little distance. Mother Nature just whupped my ass. Here are some photos from the day:

I’ll be back with more tomorrow, now I’m off to see the dentist.

A rather pleasant 6K Hash run yesterday. A couple of small climbs; otherwise we covered a mostly flat, urban trail. It was all very familiar territory, in fact, I had unknowingly walked a portion of the trail during my Sunday solo hike. I guess nothing new isn’t surprising given that we do organized hikes three times a week in a relatively small geographic area. I’ll be one of the Hares for next week’s Hash, and I doubt we’ll have anything new to offer either. Well, I’ll be throwing down more powder than I saw on yesterday’s trail, but that’s just the way I roll.

Here are some photos from our trek. As usual, these come from multiple sources:

During the Hash circle I sang a Hash song I wrote a few months ago.

(sung to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic)

His eyes have seen the horror of the steepness of the trail

His ears have heard the bitching of all the ones who fell

His lips have felt the passing of the PI’s finest Ales

This Hasher’s done it all!

Glory! Glory! Subic Hashers

Glory! Glory! Subic Hashers

Glory! Glory! Subic Hashers

May you always be ON-ON!

Yeah, I won’t quit my day job.

After the Hash, I didn’t see a trike so I started walking towards home. Then I came upon the Jollibee that opened a few months ago. I don’t really eat fast food these days, but most Filipinos are crazy about their Jollibee, so I figured I’d give it a try.

My verdict: better than a Quarter Pounder, maybe not as good as a Whopper. But the Champ hit the spot, and that’s what it’s all about.

Yeah, I just made up that word but I’m running out of things to name these weekly Hash posts. And that’s just what this is gonna be!

It was a good day on trail overall, albeit a little convoluted. The Hares had set up a couple of different starting points, and I opted for the short trail, which began in barangay Matain (Subic). Including the hike from the VFW in Barretto, I did just under 8K all told. It was all familiar territory, and the Hares were good enough to offer an alternative route for those who were disinclined to climb Black Rock mountain (including me). My only real complaint was that once again, there was a failure to adequately mark the trail. Part of the problem was the Hares, for some reason, used blue chalk to draw the arrows and markings, and that proved very difficult to see. The also chose to be very frugal with laying powder for reasons known only to them. So, there were a couple of places where I got off trail and had to retreat, but I eventually found my way. I also did a bit of a shortcut at the end, but that was of little consequence.

I’ve got a few pictures to share:

I’ll be back tomorrow with an update on my housing situation and some other tidbits from my so-called life.

Here’s a surprise for you–no bitches or complaints about the Hash trail yesterday. I did the whole thing (just under 6K) without a problem–no shortcuts required! Only one climb and it was not too difficult. Actually, most of the trail covered the very familiar My Bitch terrain. A good day to be on the mountain!

Let’s go to the photos (credit to Pubic Head for a lot of these):

So, you may have noticed there ain’t much social distancing happening in the photo above. The VFW is one of our smaller venues and frankly, keeping your distance just isn’t possible. I heard one Hasher actually declined to join in the after-Hash activities because he wasn’t comfortable with the crowd. To each his own. Anyway, shortly after the circle concluded the security guard came and advised us the police were outside. That was the end of the Hash–we all grabbed our shit and headed out before the cops came in.

The next stop for a few of us was the It Doesn’t Matter bar. We took up the outdoor seating and were enjoying our beers until this happened:

That was enough excitement for me for one day, so I headed out and took a trike back to my house. Made myself a smoothie, then hit the sack.

Let me close today’s post on a lighter note:

So, yesterday was the Subic Bay Hash’s traditional annual trek up Easter mountain. I decided that prudence dictated that I not attempt the climb this year. I’m not 100% “back” quite yet, it’s hot outside, and the long trek to the top is without shade. Not a good combination of factors for a somewhat frail 65-year-old man. Maybe next year.

As an alternative, I did lead the “sane” group on a hike beginning at my house and ending at our On-Home venue, Hunter’s Jo Inn. It was a flat walk that took us an hour and a half to complete. I was actually going to do one of the smaller hills on the Hare’s trail, but one of the members of my group was a pregnant female who wanted to avoid a climb. Well, being the gentlemen that I am… Anyway, the beer was cold at the end of our boring trail, so there’s that. Oh, and I got my Easter Hash shirt.

My group got back earlier than most of the folks who did the full trail, so I wound up drinking more beer than usual.

And that was pretty much it for my day yesterday. Now it is time to get ready for darts. Haven’t played (or practiced) in over a week. I have my singles league match against Cristy, so I’m sure there is an ass-kicking in the very near future for me.

I will leave you with this little story that I found quite funny: