Belden

Getting up early enough so that we could make it to the restaurant the moment they opened as to not waste any time and get to the ascent out of the valley before the middle of the day FP, DW, Mozart and I ended up getting to Belden way too early, the restaurant wasn't open yet and the trail angel that had my package was most likely still asleep so my plan for the day went out the window.

Orion was there and we got to talk for a bit and after getting something to eat I finally got my packages! I was so happy. my beautiful beautiful tent was back where it belonged!!! The only downside was that I now had to carry two shelters until I was able to get to a post office... worth it. Now that we were nice and full we got the privilege to hike out of the valley that Belden is situated in. ha ha ha. Since I was still getting my legs back and it was the middle of the day I felt like I was going to die right there. I was literally melting. I think today was the day I realized that I will lay down EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE at this point. I'm not picky. If my torso fits I will lay on it.

There were tons of water sources though so I was able to cool off often. At one of the main ones FP left me a little note letting me know where they were camping for the night and that gave me a little push of motivation. They all seemed like a cool group and it didn't hurt that they were from different countries, FP and DW are from France, Sean and S are from Israel and Mozart is from Germany making me the only native English speaker. That makes for some interesting conversations haha. 

Once I finally got to the top there was another note letting me know there were only 5 more miles which considering how long it took me to get to that point I was not optimistic about getting to camp before it got dark but I still tried and I made it! I even had my TENT up and was all settled in way before I had to search for my headlamp!