What is camping to you?

@AstralSmoke Leaving the population behind and going into a wilderness area to relax and enjoy all the wonderful and amazing things that nature has to offer. And it is free for the most part.

@jlynn37 Yes, that's my kind of camping. Where's your favorite camping spot?

@AstralSmoke I am from Appalachia so anywhere in the mountains is preferred, and the beach is least preferred (but still acceptable). I live in Texas now and I have such a wonderful array of choices from forest, to desert, to mountains, to seaside within 300 miles of my home.

@jlynn37 I'm from the Appalachians, Smoky Mountains area. What part are you from?

@AstralSmoke Harlan, KY. I have camped the Smokies many times, both TN and NC sides and hiked a week on the AT, along with Blue Ridge Pkwy. and Many National Forests (my favorites).

@jlynn37 Some of my family is from central KY.

@AstralSmoke Harlan is close to Cumberland Gap if you are not aware of it.
I thought EVERYONE knew about "bloody" Harlan

@jlynn37 I had to look it up on the map. I'm very aware of the Cumberland Gap.

@iamjc I prefer American history. My two favorite of all time are the David McCullough Truman and John Adams. I recently read the James Comey book. It was interesting, but depressing.

Where do you like to hike too??

@TonyMacaroni
Here's my list of hikes in 2017

In 2017, I hiked 326 miles with 63,200 feet of elevation gain.

Date Hike

2/10/2017 Snoeshoeing with Karen, Horse Lake Road
2/23/2017 Snowshoeing with Karen, Hay Canyon
3/16/2017 Above Ski Hill, Leavenworth w/Karen, Micro-spikes
3/17/2017 Smith Brook Road, snowshoe with Rick
3/23/2017 Clara and Marion Lakes w/ Karen, Micro-spikes
3/27/2017 Snowshoe up Beehive Rd. to resevoir w/ Karen
4/5/2017 Sage Hills Trails with Karen and Kathy
4/11/2017 Glacier View Trail with Karen
4/13/2017 Hay Canyon with Karen
4/19/2017 Glacier View Trail with Karen
4/25/2017 Devil's Gulch with Karen and Gro
4/28/2017 Above Squilchuck State Park with Karen
5/4/2017 Chiwaukum Creek, 66 blowdowns in 3.6 miles
5/9/2017 Red Dirt Trail with Karen, Mal and Gro
5/19/2017 Camas Meadows with Karen
5/23/2017 Hatchery Creek Trail w/Karen & Gro, burned
5/27/2017 Glacier View Trail with Tammy
6/4/2017 Mission Ridge, Pipeline Trail with Karen
6/6/2017 Ingalls Creek with 5 women
6/8/2017 Above Squilchuck State Park with Karen
6/14/2017 Above Ski Hill, Leavenworth w/Karen
6/20/2017 Dirty Face Peak with Karen & Gro
6/27/2017 Lake Marion & Pipeline Trail w/ women
6/29/2017 Camas Meadows and Hills with Karen
7/5/2017 Above Squilchuck State Park with Karen
7/6/2017 Pacific Crest Trail from Stevens Pass -northbound
7/11/2017 Glasses Lakes above Stevens Pass, with Karen
7/16/2017 Icicle Gorge with Donne
7/18/2017 Jack Creek with women's group
7/25/2017 Rock Mountain - overgrown branches scratched car
8/1/2017 Above Squilchuck State Park with Karen
8/15/2017 Nason Ridge w/ women. Logging on Nason Ridge.
8/18/2017 Pipeline Trail with Karen
8/20/2017 Mission Ridge summit from parking lot
9/8/2017 White Pine Trail
9/12/2017 Pacific Crest Trail from Stevens Pass- southbound
9/19/2017 Sauer Mountain and beyond on the trail
10/17/2017 Devil's Gulch with Gro, past big creek crossing
10/20/2017 Above Squilchuck State Park with Karen
10/24/2017 Tronsen Ridge with Karen and Gro
10/27/2017 Mission Ridge summit (less 1/2 mi.) w/Karen
10/30/2017 Glacier View Trail with Karen
10/31/2017 Nason Ridge Alpine Lookout with Karen
11/7/2017 Tibbets Mountain with Karen and Gro
11/11/2017 Pipeline Trail with Karen
11/14/2017 Ingalls Creek with Karen and Gro
11/21/2017 Beehive Road with Karen, micro-spikes
11/28/2017 Ski Hill, high ridges with Karen and Gro
12/1/2017 Above Squilchuck State Park with Karen
12/8/2017 Ski Hill, high ridges, with Karen and Gro
12/12/2017 Ridges above Eagle Creek Road with 3 women
12/26/2017 Pipeline Trail with Bill
12/28/2017 Above Squilchuck State Park with Karen

@LiterateHiker Wow! That is so cool!

@TonyMacaroni
Thanks. Nason Ridge High Alpine Lookout was 11 miles round trip with 5,000 feet of elevation gain. By October 31, Karen and I had built up our endurance and leg strength. Views were spectacular!

Howling wolf winds blew me backwards into bushes, when I walked onto a point for picture-taking. Extreme drop-offs on three sides. Crouching, I carefully crept off that point and sat down for safety in the screaming wind.

In the last five miles, we ran through a burned forest of silver snags. Trees were crashing down in the high winds.

1. Glacier Peak, 10,000'
2. Karen at Nason Ridge High Alpine Lookout
3. Mountains to the north
4. Mountains to the west

@iamjc
I was amazed we could run at the end. It was exhilarating.

Circumcision? Are you for or against?

@TonyMacaroni That's the wrong question. I am in favor of all evidence-based practices. It's on the same level of are you for or against vaccinations?

What do you do to make sure you're growing?

or thing.

@AstralSmoke I was worried about that thin thing

@btroje If I knew what that was, I'd probably be too!

@AstralSmoke certain words like thin and tall disappear from posts

@btroje Oh, I thought you were worried about getting too thin.

@AstralSmoke nope

@btroje You must not be worried about getting too tall either than.

@AstralSmoke impossible

Only Viking history?

@AstralSmoke Dark ages,Celtic,Anglo Saxon
Classical history

@1ditrana I like history, but my sequences are fallible. It's part of my history. Guess I better be hitting the books.

They're very similar, are they not?

@AstralSmoke
Yes and no. Music is very limited mathematically.

@Gatovicolo I can see that, sound verse everything.

I know a little about Doctor Who. I'm a good listener!

@AstralSmoke I used to fill up screen after screen in a chat I used to hang out in with just bits and bobs about Doctor Who.

What would you want to know? ?

@memorylikeasieve What do you like the very best about Doctor Who?

@AstralSmoke Right now, I'd have to say what I like best is how optimistic and yet angry it has been over its 55-year existence. The writers wove some powerful social commentary into it over the years.

For example, the Daleks are clearly a Nazi analogue, and this has been confirmed by Terry Nation, the person who imagined them. They were created in 1963 when WWII was still very much on the British mind. The fact that they keep coming back despite wars and eradications is one of many warnings to stay vigilant.

@memorylikeasieve Wow, it's almost as old as I am!

@iamjc Well that's loaded question for me. I enjoy most genres. I mainly read Sci-Fi but some of the books that have really move me are novels. Radium Girls was incredible and the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack was moving.

@iamjc If you haven't read the NewsFlesh series, you totally sure. They are so good.

@iamjc it is a political thriller set after the zombie apocalypse.

@Donotbelieve lol. American Civil War, but I am trying to diversify.

@Donotbelieve I did concentrate on that 4 year period because there is so much first hand documentation that was readily available and I learned from experience that the strategic view of a conflict that history usually covers is a far different perspective from the view on the ground where politics and ideologies quickly become secondary or even tertiary concerns.

@JimG I live near the Chickamauga Battlefield. A bloody ACW encounter.

I hearya. I love science but I cannot process numbers. Gets in the way of a lot, lemme tellya.

@memorylikeasieve The maths part is boring... Just tell me roughly how it does it and I'll run with that. I don't have the focus or mental discipline to apply myself in any one field so I go at it like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Same as I do for everything in life, thinking about it. ?

I admire people like you and @memorylikeasieve. I love all that stuff too, but there's only so much time in the day.

Do you write, or prefer history, or playing an instrument?

@AstralSmoke no don't play any instruments, i just admire musicians that are amazing at playing their instruments, mostly a old metal ,rock fan but aslo love bluesy stuff, and classical

I'm a big musical theatre nerd. I could probably blither about onstage and backstage stuff all day. ?

I'm not familiar with the blackhole. They have a lot of D fence though.

Yea, trinities normal come in threes.

@AstralSmoke generally speaking I'm a fan of technology, so a few examples I can think of real quick that I was part of... a device that increases mpg 40%, a device to control temperature on a hand fired coal stove, a plc based hvac for a coal stoker stove, a way to modify a tig welder to reliably weld . 003 diameter thermocouplers together, a mechanical oiling system for punch presses. Stuff like that, I love talking about ideas.

@ownworstenemy Sounds like you could be an engineer/inventor. Impressive!

Do you write your own?

@AstralSmoke Yes and play covers.

@nvrnuff Do you have a genre? Country, Rock ?

@AstralSmoke Rock mostly. Also some blues and folk/bluegrass. Not into country at all.

Do you write music? Your headshot looks like you could be a conductor or a chemist.