About Hashing

About Hashing 
We love running (or walking!) unique trails around the Boulder area, singing songs, socializing, drinking, and having a great time. All ages 21+ are welcome!


The Hash House Harriers are worldwide: we like to get outside and run, walk, amble, hike or somehow on foot go through an awesome trail. Length varies; Flatlanders usually do trails of roughly 3-5 miles. Only the hares (leaders) know where we're going to start with: they plan the trail ahead of time, mark it with small dollops of flour or chalk, and the rest of us follow a few minutes later. Their job is to lead us to the end by marking where to turn....with a few different choices, one right choice and the rest wrong. We figure it out, try (and usually fail) to catch them, and they reward us for hour efforts with a beer and water stop about half way through. (Sometimes mimosas, sometimes jello shots--you never know!). At the end, we have more "refreshment" and we sing silly, and yes often downright filthy but hilarious songs about what happened. To read more, go here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_House_Harriers  

Think this sounds interesting but want to know more? Here's what it's like for the first time.
* Show up a few minutes before the stated time for the hash and introduce yourself. You run free the first time! There'll be 10-20 people; one of us will do the trail with you to be sure you know how it all works. Trails are at 6 PM Fridays, April-September, and 2 PM on Saturdays the rest of the year.
* If it's going to be cold, or if you might need to cross a stream, the invite to the hash will have info about that. You'll need to bring warm clothes, extra shoes, etc. to some hashes (and it's a good idea to bring them to any hash). There's a "hashwagon" where you can put your stuff; the hashwagon will be at the end of the trail.
* The trails are always live, which means two hares (trail leaders) set out 10 minutes ahead of time, marking the trail. They know where they're going; we don't!* We start out looking for dollops of flour or chalk symbols like arrows and pretty soon we come to a decision point, a circle showing two or more possible routes out. Only one of them is right. We run around til we see at least four marks out from that point; then we know that's right and we keep going!* After a mile or three we have a break for beer and water; we hang out for a bit, usually in a clump of trees or behind a culvert or somewhere else interesting, then it's on again.
* After a total of about 3-5 miles we get to the end. There's more (and usually better) beer, water, snacks, etc. It might be where we started; it might be somewhere else in which case the hares (trail leaders) will give you a ride back at the end of circle (the singing and beer part).
* There are a few standard parts of every circle: introducing new people, recognizing the hares, etc. Circle lasts roughly an hour but it varies a lot. For each one, the people come into the circle and we all sing a bawdy song. You'll recognize the melodies to some; probably not the words.  At the end, the people in the circle who we're singing for drink a little beer, water, orange soda, whatever, and then get out of the circle. This goes on to the additional totally made up parts, where one might get called into circle for wearing silly pants; for catching one of the hares; for climbing a tree while on trail to retrieve an interesting piece of detritus; or really anything else. This is the really fun part of circle.* After circle, we head home, or sometimes go out for dinner. Sometimes circle is at someone's house and it all just continues into a party.