That pretty much sums up yesterday’s Hash, assuming wet implies muddy because it was that too. The trail was more difficult than most but not all that surprising with Leech My Nuggets being the Hare. I opted to walk to the trail start rather than ride the Hashmobile which put me right at 10K for the hike.

Of course, there was a mountain to climb as part of the fun. I’d never done this particular portion of this mountain and didn’t realize just how high it actually is. The trail going up was reasonable for the most part but it seemed like it would never end. I was relieved to have finally reached the summit and start back down the other side. But maybe halfway down, we started back up again. Leech you bastard! And then it started to rain. Pouring down rain. Nothing to do but march on.

I also had some newbies with me at the back of the pack and felt duty-bound to see them On-Home safely. Which made me even slower than usual. I was a little surprised that several Hashers ahead of me wound up losing the trail altogether and had to find their own way back. Leech is about the best there is at marking a trail and yesterday was not really an exception. I too got briefly lost but had the good sense to backtrack to the last trail marker (shredded paper) I had seen and proceed from there. And sure enough, I soon saw where I had missed a turn. A Hasher needs to stay alert and not assume he knows what’s coming next.

Anyway, my group all got safely down a muddy and steep descent and found the cold beer waiting for us at Hunter’s Jo Inn. I ordered up the foot-long hotdog duo to satiate my hunger but the circle started up before they arrived. It sucks to be so late arriving On-Home. I opted to eat instead of participating in the beginning of the circle activities without regret.

Here are some photos from yesterday’s journey:

And then the rain started coming down so I slipped my phone inside a baggie and put it away.

An exhausting day on trail. Janey and the ex were also both in attendance at the circle which was a little weird. They both independently told me later they wouldn’t come to the Hash again. I advised them that wasn’t necessary on my behalf but they should do whatever makes them happy. I’m wrapping my mind around my new acceptance of a life alone and will not be sucked into unwanted drama. Or so I say.

I had the honor of participating yesterday in the historic first running of the COVID Hash. With the easing of quarantine restrictions, some members of the Subic Bay Hash decided to push the envelope and get On-On again.

Now, the quarantine rules still don’t allow us to do what we did, but we did it anyway. We did, however, try to be discreet about it. In that regard, we met up on the mountain so as not to draw unwarranted attention to ourselves. Our regular meet-up location (Johannson’s) is still closed anyway. For our On-Home beer drinking and Hash circle activities, we camped out at a fellow Hasher’s residence. I guess our illicit plan worked out okay because we were not accosted by the authorities. In fact, we intend to do it again come Monday.

We did a short 5K trail, although I did another 5K going to and getting home from the Hash. Here are some photos as promised:

I wound up getting pretty a good buzz on because I was drinking stronger beer than normal (still no Zero’s and they ran out of SM Light). The shortest way home was taking My Bitch back, but I wasn’t so drunk that I thought THAT was a good idea. Walked the back streets and took advantage of that by popping into my favorite eatery–Sit-n-Bull.

Instead of blogging like I promised to do I popped open a beer, turned on the TV, and watched a couple more episodes of Game of Thrones. Sorry ’bout that!

I guess little by little we are moving back towards normalcy. Here’s hoping it continues.