The I Got Gas Hash is slowly working it’s way onto the hash calendar – last year it was a great event, and today it was also a superb hash. It helps having a great venue on the edge of some great hashing country, and the pool and barbecue will make even the grumpiest hasher smile!
After suggesting in the week there was only one way out of his house, IGG sent us through the back gate scrambling around the river to a rice field for the On-Out. Being a smart-ass I was sure which way he would send us – towards the hills and the great trails of the King’s Project! First circle check I picked left and got on to the canal trail. When they called On-On to the right, I ‘knew’ it was a matter of time before they crossed the canal, and opted to parallel for a while till we met up… The On-On calls faded, and it turned out there weren’t so many options for getting to the canal. I was alone and off trail, finally making the decision to cut my losses and head back to the first circle…
It happens sometimes that I end up behind Frozen Dick after a bad check, but this time it took me a good km or so to chase down Sunspot and Miss Piggy! Superman offered me a short cut through a canal, and slowly I moved up the pack – it was fun, and the hares had been smart enough with the checks (early on) to let me get back into the action. It was clear we were heading to the right (particularly with my earlier detour to give me inside information), and that was where the hares hit their genius – they knew we wanted to go right, and they teased us with multiple checks that hinted we might go right, only to head straight or off to the left. Where was the trail??
I got lucky. The check that I finally got to the front on had a newbie heading up a hill and me taking the ‘less obvious’, but ultimately more likely, trail through the high grass, off to the right. I was On! We were so far out by now that it had to be straight on back from here, and sure enough, while the trail took in a bit of a climb around the side of a mountain, it was great running and heading straight in the right direction. When there was a check, we met Superman, Just Cumming and Soapy short cutting their way to the trail. It was a great trail, and a front runner’s delight! Even when I did parallel run my way back to the trail in the closing stages (see attached GPS), it was all fun running country.
The summary? We had some tough / interesting checks early on which were then rewarded with some great running trails on the way back. A good job by the hares – a good circle, followed by good food – now that is hashing!