Kanawha County

If you have been following any of my run reports over time, you may notice there is no rhyme or reason of where I may turn up on a hash. Last week I was in Cambodia, two days ago in Washington, DC . . . yesterday it was central West Virginia. Hashing is a great sporting event all over the world. I was lucky to catch up with the Mountain Momma H3 last night on their MONTHLY trail. I never know what to expect when I visit a hash club for the first time, and last night was no exception. The announcement for trail simply said to meet at the skate park under the bridge, which all locals know about . . . but I had to ask for a specific address, which was quickly provided.

I arrived at the start point 10 minutes ahead of the designated time, and no one was there . . . but the lead hare did soon turn up. No Name Noah was about to set his virgin hare trail, and was a bit nervous. I had the chance to chat with him for a bit, and he told me he was about to leave town (enlisted in the Navy), so I gave him a bit of a pep talk based on my own experience (both haring and in the military). The rest of the pack rolled in over the next 30 minutes, and by the time we had hares away, we had a solid pack of 10.

Trail was mostly through town, which was rather empty as we only passed a handful of people as we worked our way through the 5+ mile trail, with a song stop and a couple beer checks. Speaking of beer checks, we were at the second one, in a small out of the way park. After about 10 minutes, a cop car slowly rolls into the parking lot . . . turns around, pauses as his lights hit us standing off in the back of the park (why in the world would 10 people, standing in a circle, in the back corner of a dark park in a remote corner of the city ever be suspicious), but he backs up and starts to roll out. BUT, then he stops, gets out and walks towards us, but then stops and flashes his light into a ditch near us.
We start to chat with him a bit, and he asks if we have seen anyone dumping trash (or something in a white plastic bag) in the area. He clearly stated we were no issue, but that a local neighborhood Karen had reported someone pulling up and dumping this plastic bag (which we had hidden behind us, with a few beers in it) behind us. He quickly gives up and returns to his car and drives away. It was one of the most bizarre hash related law enforcement encounters I have ever seen (and I have seen many).

Anyway, after the cop leaves, the hares continue on to set the final leg into the finish, and we soon follow. Back under the bridge, by the skate park, we have a short circle (because it is now cold as [insert your favorite expression for cold] and we decide to go to SAM’s for the On On On. Sam’s is a cool local sports pub, where we all met up for a couple beers and eats, while Monday Night Football played at the bar. We had a few laughs, named our virgin hare who has now completed 3 hash trails and hared . . . "23 Dump Street" (he is 23, and apparently gets noticed by local Karens for dumping plastic bags full of beer in local parks).

All in all, it was a great experience with friendly hashers.Read more