where I have been hiking

Since I've been dropping names of trails and peaks a lot lately, I figure some of y'all might appreciate some way to easily look these places up.

Every week before heading out, I look at Maps of the Middle Prong and Shining Rock Wilderness Areas at the website HikeWNC. Most of the trails I have mentioned are on that map. I haven't ventured far into the Middle Prong Wilderness yet, but I haven't exhausted the Shining Rock Wilderness yet either.

Furthermore, I have added HikeWNC to the Outdoors section of my blog's sidebar and moved that section up so it's easier to get to.

On another subject, my hornet stings gave me no trouble for over 24 hours after the initial pain subsided, but then they all started to itch like crazy and a couple of them were surrounded by hives that turned into bruises. Most of the itching is finally gone.

And one more thing: about a half-hour after we got home from our hike yesterday, I remembered that I had bought a few groceries early in the morning. We had stopped by the house to drop off the groceries before heading up to the trails, but I forgot to bring in a half-gallon of milk. Oh no!

I ran out to the car and brought in the milk. It was in the trunk of the car, in a bucket, which apparently insulated it somewhat from the hot outdoor temperatures; it felt like it was about room temperature despite the 90℉ air temperature outside the trunk and it had condensation on the outside of the jug. Furthermore, I had backed the car right up to the undergrowth surrounding the parking lot, keeping a lot of hot air from flowing around it while we hiked.

I stuck the milk way back in the refrigerator and expected to have to dump it out. Believe it or not, the milk was still good enough that it was OK to drink this morning. I don't expect it to last very long, though, but it's only a half-gallon so I should be able to drink most or all of it before it starts to turn.