Truly a beautiful route. It's hard not to stumble on something amazing in Yosemite. The valley is just the beginning. That being said if I ever hike this route I would definitely slow it down quite a bit. They author rushed a bit too much for my taste. Not to mention planning for 18 miles with 8,500 ft elevation gain on the first day is a HORRIBLE idea. Seriously, for anyone reading unless you've been training hard for a while at high elevation never ever do that. Even splitting that amount in two is a bit of a stretch. This is a great way to either become very dehydrated or injure yourself. Start with 2-3 miles a day and then increase from there. If you're first leg has to be huge camp out a bit around the start and go on a day hike the day before.