Yesterday’s Hare was a Hasher from Angeles City, Two Bottles. I wrote about him in a post last July called “Worst trail ever”. So, I should have known what was in store. In fact, last July I vowed to never do one of his trails again, but there I was. Actually, because it was such a shitty trail I inadvertently missed the worst part of it. Oh well, maybe I learned my lesson this time.

We began things by overloading the truck. This time of year we have more than our usual number of Hashers and the Hashmobile lacks the capacity to transport all those wanting to participate to the trailhead. When I Hare, I will always do a “walk-out” trail. Sure, it limits your options, but to me riding in the back of the truck is always the worst part of the Hash.

The trail started from Rizal Extension and went up the big mountain. Getting to the top is always a tough climb and I don’t blame the Hare for that. There are certainly worse ways to go than the one he chose. The good news for me was my breathing and stamina was much better than it was last week, so there’s that.

So, I get to the top of the mountain and was pissed to see a checkpoint. I ranted about these in the “worst trail ever” post linked above:

Another thing I don’t personally like are checkpoints. This is where at an intersection of paths, the Hare requires you to pursue all possibilities until you find the “true trail”. Now, you might get lucky and guess right the first time. Otherwise you’ll have to walk a hundred yards or so looking for trail marks. If you don’t find any you have to retreat and try the next alternative. If you are in a group you can send one person off in each direction and when (if) they find the trail mark they yell “on-on” and everyone goes that way. It just seems like a pointless waste of time to me, but some Hares and Hashers seem to think it makes for a more interesting trail.

Well, I’m alone at this point but I guessed the trail would go left, so I headed off in that direction. Seeing no trail markings, I turned around and headed in the opposite direction. Nothing that way either. So, in addition to the bullshit checkpoint, it was also poorly marked. At this point, I just said “fuck it” and kept going. I knew a way back down so I made my own trail.

Anyway, I made it down on my own safe and sound. The stories I heard about the trail I missed made me feel like I made the right decision. Very steep and slippery descent, fraught with hazards like barbed wire. I would have been a very unhappy camper had I gone that way. As it was, the last group who took the right trail didn’t get back on-home until a little after 6:00 and in the dark. And I was behind them! No excuse for laying a trail like that. I’m done with you, Two Bottles.

It’s all good.