As we walked along the San Joaquin River towards Kings Canyon, after waking at 5:30am in order to get in miles before the smoke set in, we turned a corner and saw the sky alive. It was as if we were walking through a movie set, as if a pterodactyl could emerge from the haunted sky at any moment. The shadows radiating off the mountains forecasted both beauty and danger. We crossed a bridge into Kings Canyon and were greeted at the border by a border guard, a deer. We stared at each other for a while and then he bounced away. We continued. We climbed slowly up, following the river, and enjoyed countless cascading falls with misty mountains in background. Every step brought a new beautiful scene. We made slow progress due to my constant photo-taking. Turning left up a steep hill, we climbed towards Evolution Valley. We saw a series of waterfalls in the distance, dropped our packs, and climbed down to the falls. This fall was one ...