It took our Hash bus nearly two and a half hours to reach our Circle in Bac Giang, a neighbor of Hanoi. This time, there were no runners, so only walkers had one trail. Initially, under the baking sunshine, our sole trail followed a long, sloped concrete road leading to a massive Buddhist monastery, as if it were the first tough challenge for us, fervent monks or hashers, determined to practice our religion of hashing. The wide road ended behind the monastery, but the challenges continued beneath our feet. The winding trail kept going up and up, seemingly trying to exhaust us. It’s hard to express just how difficult it was to overcome the consecutive slopes.
The trail became much rougher, with rocks scattered along the way after recent heavy rains from the super typhoon. In many places, the trail was nearly blocked by large, uprooted pine trees. A sudden shower greeted the last walkers when we reached the peak of King Mountain. Our descent was no easier, with slippery rocks, heavy rain, and fallen trees making it treacherous. It grew very dark, so a new Circle was held at the Beer Stop, under shelter, and we finished the Hash there. Continuing the rest of the trail back to the original Circle would have been too dangerous due to the rain and difficult terrain.
We highly appreciate our hare team's efforts in setting this trail. However, they should be more mindful of balancing the trail's length and difficulty in the future to ensure a proper challenge. On on!
