It actually went better than I expected. Yes, I was breathing heavily, but with the occasional stops for photos, and taking hits of water from my camelback (if you day hike and don’t have a camelback backpack – get one! It is so much easier than stopping and pulling the water bottle out of your conventional pack.)
Wild horses were visible from the bus parking lot, but we had no idea whether or not we could see them from the trail. As it turns out, they not only were right by the trail, but some hung out on it. There were a couple of colts or fillies (I was not going to go check) along with the other wild horses.
A couple of horses had bells on, but it was probably only two of the dozen or so horses that we saw. Aner fed one of the belled horses an apple that he had, and the horse kept dropping the apple. Finally the horse decided to go ahead and eat it, and then quickly ate the remaining pieces.
Finally the horses moved along, so we did too. By that point we were a good halfway up, and I could still carry on a conversation whilst walking, so I wasn’t that winded. As we neared the top, we saw our compatriots, had incredible views across a hilly valley to another mountaintop, and passed some cows.
Reaching the 3400 foot pass was a cause for celebration, so we paused on the other side for a group photo. Laid out below us was a panorama of mountains that stretched to the end of our views.
All the while hikers who had taken the mountain top route of the Primitivo came streaming down to where the two trails met. It is believed that we were on the main Primitivo, just because it had ready access to water, as well as being safer out of the mountaintop weather.
It was a good climb, and I feel like I redeemed myself a little bit for my slow climb up Angels Landing. Even though it was steeper, the shortness of it helped.
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