We saw them, too. Those people are insane. Flat out. Even if they were going to the gardens, it’s nuts. Hell, 3 mile house is a rough go too.
We hiked down in 6 hrs and out the next day in 6.5 hrs. We crushed the bottom part, but my trail runner friend pretty much had to carry me for the upper part of the hike out. Not really, but he seemed hardly out of breath every time we stopped and I wanted to slap him.