On a freezing cold night in Golden Gate Park, the sky is pitch black. The air is brisk, but the night is clear, no wind and no clouds. In the distance, two lights bob up and down as they come closer to their destination. Little can be seen, but if you get lost, all you need to do is look down for the nearest splotch of white flour, which is surprisingly easy to see, given that it is nighttime.

Communicating with hashing lingo, Tongueless shouts "Are you?" and from down the trail Pied Piper responds, "Checking." Using his headlamp, he finds three piles of flour and now the pack is back on track. "On-On!" Pied Piper shouts and the run continues.

Tongueless (who wishes to remain known only by his hash name) and Dennis Bauke, a.k.a. Pied Piper, are hashers and they are part of a group known as the Hash House Harriers, a group that runs for fun and has one destination in mind: the keg.

Hash House Harriers derive their name from the British game "Hare and Hounds," which centers around a run. The 'hare' begins the run and the 'hounds' follow using a set of clues left behind. Hares mark the trail with either chalk or flour and, to make the run more challenging, frequently set false markers to throw the runners off.

There are hashing groups all around the world, in every country, on every continent. The Gypsies in the Palace, one of San Francisco's smaller hashing groups started April 1, 1993. At a hash, everyone has a distinct name--one that they have earned or that describes their personalities. The names are usually off-color, and some say, the raunchier, the better.

The night begins with a 'circle up,' where the night's instructions are given and new runners are inducted into the group. Each new runner must complete a reading from an erotic novel, and it must be read with feeling.

"The book is a way to vet people, if this is more than you can handle, then you don't belong here," explains Tongueless, the group's organizer. The experience of the reading is all in good fun, a way to loosen everyone up and is meant to start the Gypsies' run on the right note.

The route of the hash is entirely up to each week's hare, but the run is typically thirty to forty-five minutes long. Mid-run, the hashers usually fuel up at a designated bar, drink a few beers, and keep right on running. Typically, the Gypsies run A to A, meaning that they start and end in the same place. It is at the end of the run where the real fun begins.

When everyone has returned from the run, the keg is tapped and the snacks come out. Everyone eats and drinks, socializing and discussing the hash. People refer only to one another by their hash names - in fact, some Gypsies insist that their real names are irrelevant. After, the hashers have properly imbibed, the down-downs start and more drinking is done. The down-downs, led by King Rong Jon, are a time for everyone to circle up and sing one of the many songs all of which end in "drink 'em down, down, down..." while the person chugs a cup of beer or beverage of choice.

"A lot of the songs come from rugby, it is an English tradition, to sing these type of songs, get rowdy, and drink beer," King Rong Jon explains. "Whether it is lewd and rude, if you can't handle the program, then go somewhere else."

The Gypsies are self-proclaimed 'runners with a drinking problem;' they run hard, drink hard, and party till they can party no more. Every run is infused with a little bit of exercise, but it is all about the end result: having fun and drinking it all down, down, down. [X]