So, one of the recommended hikes out of Sequoia High Sierra Camp (SHSC) is a one-way excursion from the camp into Kings Canyon – the camp notes what time your party leaves in the morning and sends a car to pick you up at Cedar Grove some 5-6 hours later to bring you back. When we booked our stay, there was some question about them only offering it on weekdays, such that we considered arriving at the camp on Friday in order to do the Cedar Grove hike that same day, with Mitchell Peak reserved for Saturday, but, in the end, we were able to schedule the Cedar Grove hike for Saturday instead. We awoke at first light, noting that, being on the west slope of the mountain, the camp wouldn’t get any direct sun for another couple of hours, and we ate full breakfasts of yogurt, made-to-order omelets, and strong, freshly-percolated coffee as we watched the mountain’s shadow to the west gradually pull closer up the hill. We made lunch from the impressive SHSC spread, filled our water bottles, and headed out just after 9am, walking first down the camp’s service road for about 100 yards before turning off north onto an old trail – no longer maintained on Sequoia NF land, the trail shows up on older USGS topo maps but not on anything current. This path would take us northward on a two-mile traverse up and along the northern extension of Mitchell Peak, then west past a prominent bald known as Lookout Point for about half a mile before dropping steeply eastward to a saddle south of Lookout Peak. At this saddle, we’d cross eastward into Kings Canyon NP and follow the maintained Don Cecil Trail another four miles and 3,500′ down to Cedar Grove – we understand the Don Cecil Trail, named for a sheep farmer who ranched this area 150 years ago, was the original route used to access Kings Canyon, so everyone from John Muir to Stephen Mather and William Brewer used this same trail. We expected the hike to total about 8 miles, although we also expected to have time for a side trip up Lookout Peak, which would add about a mile and 400′ of gain to the trip. The old trail, though very faint and overgrown in places, was well-marked (perhaps overly so) with orange and pink flagging – very tough to get lost, although we felt very isolated once we left camp. We followed the path north past Horse Corral Meadows and up a series of three successively taller hills, although nothing was very steep – what was remarkable was how beautiful the forest looked in the morning light, the vibrant greens glowing and interspersed with bright pops of colorful wildflowers. We made several creek crossings along the way, each in its own meadow setting, and we found ourselves topping out at the crest of the third hill after about an hour of walking. We were looking for a pair of blazed fir trees that indicated our turn west, and we found them without difficulty just after reaching the crest and crossing an old logging road. We began to get views northward to the Monarch Divide through the trees, and we soon emerged from the forest at Lookout Point, where the views opened up north and east over Kings Canyon – whereas yesterday’s vistas had been compromised by smoke, a change in the wind left crystal clear views in all directions today. Below us directly north was the conical form of Lookout Peak on the south side of the canyon, with the Monarch Divide behind, and east were the cliffs of Kings Canyon itself, with lofty peaks further east and summits of the northern Great Western Divide to the south – quite the sight. We continued west down the ridge, eventually switching back east and dropping into a lovely wooded valley south and west of Lookout Peak, eventually reaching an overgrown roadbed that spilled onto a maintained Forest Service road after half a mile – this led us to the Lookout Peak saddle. We heard voices shouting at us from further up the hill to the north, where two guys had apparently gotten their truck stuck in some loose soil and wanted to know if we had a radio – after we said no, we didn’t have one, they invited us up the hill to top off our water, despite us assuring them that we had enough. It was all a little fishy, and we abandoned plans to hike up Lookout Peak since we would have had to pass closely by them – we did tell them we’d let the rangers at Cedar Grove know of their predicament. After that, we headed east down the Don Cecil Trail, clearly marked and well-manicured. The trail passed down and across the open east face of Lookout Peak (offering much the same views as at the top, so we didn’t feel like we missed much) before turning east and then south into a shallow valley – here, we entered a flat section, shaded by tall trees and home to carpets of ferns and deep green grasses. We could hear water ahead of us, and we soon came up alongside a full creek, the largest of the day so far. We followed it northeastward for a few hundred yards before crossing to its east side on a narrow log – though solid, the log was a couple of feet above the water and required some care to avoid getting wet. We were pretty hungry by this time and had been looking for a nice place to stop for a while, but any rocky areas were sunny and all the shade was devoid of places to sit – such problems. We finally found a suitable spot about a half mile further and took an extended break, enjoying our sandwiches made with hearty whole grain rolls from the camp. We had noticed it getting warmer as we descended, and now, at midday and below 7,000′, it just became plain hot – the occasional breeze was always welcome, but those seemed fewer the further down we went. About a mile from Cedar Grove, we reached the Sheep Creek Cascades, a series of tumbling falls that we could hear long before crossing them on a sturdy footbridge. Below the falls, the grade became much more gentle, which was quite welcome for Chris – his rapid descent of Mitchell Peak the previous afternoon left his knees very sore today, and the last couple of miles had been pretty rough, even raising a quarter-sized blister under his big toe with the awkward motion of minimizing impact to his knees. Overheated and more than a little tired, we finally reached Cedar Grove and its cluster of campgrounds nestled along the rushing Kings River, finding the ranger station adjacent to the parking area where our ride was to pick us up. We made our report of the sketchy guys up on the mountain, noting to the law enforcement ranger we had also met two young women on the trail heading up to Lookout Peak – though we had advised them to give the guys a wide berth, Jane was nervous about the girls the whole way down. The ranger told us that, since the guys’ location was outside the park, he’d have to ask Forest Service folks to go check it out, but he and three other rangers rolled out a few minutes later, waving to us as they left – hopefully, everything worked out, and we’ve not heard anything from the NPS since. We found a shaded picnic table nearby and waited another 20 minutes or so until the camp’s SUV arrived to haul us back to the SHSC, some two hours away by road although just a few miles distant by air – we wished we’d had more time to explore Kings Canyon per se, but we were very happy to have hot showers and a steak dinner awaiting us back at the camp. Our total hike distance was just 8.71 miles per the GPS, but the 4,300+’ drop and the heat made it feel much longer. Still, it was a pretty epic experience all things considered, especially on the old trail up high where the forest was prettier and the weather cooler.