The first run Gorf has set in Chiang Mai – now that was worth the effort of slipping out of work for. It was a familiar run site by a quarry around 5 clicks along the Sameong road. We began with a hare brief… It was necessary – the hare had torn up the Chiang Mai Haring Manual, and done everything completely differently! This was going to be interesting… Today Circle checks weren’t going to be circle checks, they were going to be…. well… different… there may be false trails heading off circle checks, which would lead to the inevitable of hashers calling onon from all different directions. False trails wouldn’t be marked with a bar as we are used to, instead they would be marked with a cross check, so if we saw a cross check we should go back, rather than checking the 3 options. Other kinds of false trails would be marked as circle checks with crosses in them and if we found one of those we should also go back, but not as far as the last check. There would be a “W”alker trail, but rather than marking it with a “W” it would be marked with an “S”. The hare explained it all clearly, and I thought I understood – but for poor Stiff who arrived 5 minutes late, he was completely screwed. Circle checks were now kicked out in all directions and the other markings were… well french?
On On to the trail! We set off through the temple, and with monks sweeping the trail I felt it better to whisper the check back I found. We whispered the OnOn until we got far enough away from the temple. The hare had found an different way through – it was new for me. So new that I explored and alternative and rejoined the pack a little further on the trail. HRA took the lead – afterall a large part of the run copied a run he’d set some time back. The run headed inevitably towards a section that I really don’t like…. The view is awesome overlooking the quarries, but with a steep drop to the left and a sheer drop to the right, while scrambling through shiggy, and the only trees to hold on to fall apart in your hands… Argh! The vertigo kicked in.
Finally I got past it and caught back up to the FRBs. Knockout lead me astray when she found one of the dodgy circle false trails… HRA calling to the right, and Knockout calling to the left – who would you pick? Of course I chased Knockout down the hill wishfully wondering if everyone else would follow HRA – instead a large group of us found ourselves the wrong side of the mountain, while we could hear HRA somewhere the other side. The rest backtracked, while KO and I took the more direct vertical route to rejoin the trail. Somewhere up ahead was HRA & Graven – YAY! Great to see Graven back!
The next section was familiar, but its a great running trail – a good workout on the climb and then nice views as we arc around the valley. Finally HRA got one wrong and I was back in the mix. HRA, Graven, Piggy, Any Fanny Will Do, and I were up front (perhaps admiring the use of the Oxford Comma there). The descent was on and we charged back down the mountain. Another circle check, and I followed HRA in the wrong direction. Perhaps he didn’t check far enough? I checked much harder and took the route through the orchard to jump out back on trail just ahead of Piggy as we came to the final check. He sportingly waited for me to take the right route back around the quarry, which gave me 100m or so on him, enough to survive after the OnIn to the finish.
Nice run, nice circle – cheers Gorf!