The Gophers’ running game averaged less than three yards per carry across the opening two games this season. That continued with 2.7 yards per rush on 13 carries into the second half against Nevada on Saturday.

Then tailback Darius Taylor burst out on a rollicking 80-yard touchdown run to put the final points on a 27-0 win at Huntington Bank Stadium. Minnesota continued to get more consistent chunks of yardage on the ground after Taylor’s explosive play and finished the final nonconference game with 195 yards on 32 carries (6.1 per rush).

“Those are body blows, body blows, body blows, body blows and boom! There is a knockout punch,” head coach P.J. Fleck said postgame.

The Gophers (2-1) will face a heavyweight rush defense when Iowa (2-1) comes to Minneapolis for a primetime edition of the battle for Floyd of Rosedale on Saturday night. The Hawkeyes are sixth in the nation, allowing 2.06 yards per carry this season.

Fleck has pointed out that nonconference opponents have been putting extra defenders in the box to stop the U’s run game, which has been making it more difficult to get more yardage on a consistent basis.

“I don’t think it’s ever as bad as you think or as good as you think. … There are nine guys down in the box,” Fleck said Monday about Nevada. “I think people in the run game sometimes think every time you run the ball you should get 12 yards. Not in today’s day and age. Not all the time.

“It’s being willing to stick with the run game over and over and over. That allows a lot of things to happen in the pass game.”

With quarterback Max Brosmer’s ability to orchestrate a short and quick-hitting passing game, Minnesota has been able to establish the pass and then run it. “Throw to run,” Fleck has repeated this season.

Minnesota has run the ball on 56 percent of total plays this season, down 6 percent from last year.

When it comes to the offensive line, Fleck has said this year’s team reminds him of the 2019 season, when they used a larger variety of linemen, especially early on in the year. This season, the Gophers have used three different starting combinations at right guard and right tackle through three games.

“They have to be consistent,” Fleck said about needs from the O-line going into Iowa. “They have to do a great job of communicating. They have to play hard-nosed football. They do. It’s not that they don’t; they do. They play extremely hard as we continue to go through this and mold it together. We just have to continue to have the consistency there that we know the guys can have.”

Against North Carolina, Quinn Carroll started at right guard and Martes Lewis at right tackle. For Rhode Island, they flipped to Lewis at guard, Carroll at tackle, but Ashton Beers replaced Lewis midway through the game. For Nevada, it was Beers at guard, Carroll at tackle.

The other three first-team lineman have remained constant: left tackle Aireontae Ersery, left guard Tyler Cooper and center Greg Johnson.

“I thought the leadership has gotten tangibly and consistently growing in that group: Quinn and ‘Tae, Coop and Greg — everybody on that O-line — they did an amazing job staying together,” Brosmer said. “They know that ultimately they want to put a perfect product on the field, but everyone knows that being perfect isn’t obtainable. We want to get close to perfect.”

Minnesota Gophers quarterback Max Brosmer (16) passes the ball against the Nevada Wolf Pack in the first quarter of an NCAA football game at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Sept., 14, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

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Just five hours north of Los Angeles sits a national park that should be on your outdoor bucket list.

It features a valley carved millions of years ago by glaciers, hulking mountains made of granite and other rock, countless waterfalls, massive ancient trees and a cool, clear river.

I know what you’re thinking: “That sounds like Yosemite.” Even better. It’s like Yosemite, but way more chill.

Kings Canyon National Park will give you the majestic outdoors respite you’re dreaming of without all the busy trails, swarming crowds and traffic jams at the park entrance gate that come with the Hollywood Boulevard of national parks. Just east of Fresno, this swath of paradise is the underrated local favorite, with welcoming campgrounds, easy-to-navigate day trails, plentiful backpacking opportunities and swimming holes galore.

As I was heading out to report this story, I steeled myself for the typical national park experience. As someone who once accidentally got into a spat with another grown adult at Yellowstone National Park while attempting to help my 5-year-old niece steal a peek at Old Faithful, I know all too well the way chaotic tourist crowds can get under my skin.

But those crowds never materialized. Kings Canyon gets a fraction of the foot traffic that Yosemite does. Last August, Yosemite saw almost 594,000 visitors, and Kings Canyon saw 81,000, according to federal data. At its busiest, in June of last year, Kings Canyon welcomed 126,000 visitors, which was just over a fourth of the visitors who went to Yosemite that month.

You might be wondering: Is Kings Canyon’s landscape as spellbindingly majestic? The short answer is yes, if a tad more rugged. Both parks feature massive granite mountains, gorgeous rivers and alpine meadows. But Yosemite’s natural wonders have the manicured sheen of a famous name. Kings Canyon is its untamed, serene cousin. When I asked a ranger the name of a nearby cliff, they quipped: “We don’t name everything like Yosemite.” During my three-day stay, I heard multiple guests say: “This is like a chill Yosemite.”

In fairness, many of the best experiences you can have at Kings Canyon are in the back country and require some level of backpacking knowledge. But even if you’re a camping novice, this guide outlines the many different ways you can experience the park, whether it’s from a cozy lodge or magnificent campground.

This guide focuses on the Cedar Grove area of the park. After being closed for more than a year because of major flooding, it reopened this summer. Its campgrounds are slowly but surely becoming available to book. (More on how to do that below.)

Please enjoy your stay in this slept-on paradise. And eat your heart out, Yosemite.

Getting there

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are two parks managed as one. Kings Canyon is the northern half of the parks. They have several entrances. The most direct way to reach the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park from L.A. is to take Highway 180 near Fresno to the Big Stump entrance.

From here, you’ll follow this scenic seasonal roadway into Kings Canyon. It’s a beautiful drive, especially the beginning that passes through Sequoia National Forest. There you’ll be met with incredible vistas and waterfalls, including one you can take a short walk to visit. (More on that below.)

This route is not accessible year-round. Highway 180 from Grant Grove Village to Cedar Grove is open seasonally. It generally opens the fourth Friday in April and closes in mid-November. You can check the road conditions on the Kings Canyon website.

If you’d like to take the scenic way to reach Kings Canyon, you can drive through Sequoia National Park via Highway 198. You’ll pass through the idyllic town of Three Rivers before entering Sequoia National Park. A slow winding journey, you’ll drive about 46 miles north until you reach the Highway 180 junction. There are several great places to stop along the way. Honorable mention goes to the General Sherman Tree, a giant sequoia that’s one of the largest and oldest trees in the world.

If you’re craving more giant trees, this route offers multiple spots to see them, although it will add about two hours to your trip. You can also take the first route mentioned and stop at the Grant Grove area of Kings Canyon before you reach Cedar Grove, which doesn’t feature sequoias like the rest of the parks.

Take note that if you have the “avoid tolls” option selected on your mapping app, it might try to direct you to take an unpaved road to avoid paying the park entrance fee. In short: this is a bad idea. Also, beware that service is scant in these parts, so it’s best to download the area on your GPS app before you leave. While I’m ticking through lifesaving necessities, be sure to top off your gas tank in a nearby town before entering the park, since options are limited inside. At present, there are no electric car chargers in Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Best to enter the park with a full charge.

Where to stay

Sentinel Campground

Reopened in July, Sentinel Campground is the only campground open in the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon as of late August. It offers 82 sites for tents, RVs and trailers that you can reserve on Recreation.gov. There are no first-come first-served sites in the campground.

The South Fork of the Kings River runs along the northern side of the campground, near a handful of coveted (read: quickly booked) sites. But you don’t have to be next to the river to enjoy yourself. No matter where you end up staking your tent, you will be treated to a dark sky full of twinkling stars, a concert of crickets, the calming sound of the nearby river rushing and the soothing whoosh of wind through the canyon. This is hopefully not all drowned out by the roar of your neighbor’s RV generator. Quiet hours are at 10 p.m. after all.

Steller’s jays and robins may appear when you start cooking your dinner, optimistic for a treat. Hopefully, you aren’t greeted by one of the park’s larger hungrier residents, the black bear. Throughout the campground, there are flush toilets, sinks to wash dishes and spigots with drinking water. Each site has a campfire ring, picnic table and bear-proof food storage box.

During the day, when you aren’t out adventuring, you can find a shady spot beneath a towering ponderosa pine or cedar tree. Some might even be small enough to hang a hammock.

The Cedar Grove Lodge

Location, location, location! The Cedar Grove Lodge is a rustic but charming throwback to simpler times. The Wi-Fi is iffy at best, and there aren’t televisions in the rooms. But you aren’t coming here to hang out in your room. The lodge is close to all the area’s main attractions. It’s situated next to the Kings River, where guests pull up a lawn chair and enjoy the serenity of the space. It offers standard and suite rooms with queen and king beds and a complimentary breakfast.

It also has a gift shop (with fairly priced souvenirs), a market and the Cedar Grove Diner, a counter-service snack bar, on its first floor. From 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., the diner serves burgers, sandwiches and wraps. The menu includes beef, chicken and fish offerings as well as a plant-based veggie burger and hummus wrap. But sorry, no fries.

Meanwhile, its market is a good resource in case you forgot to pack something. It sells tent stakes and chairs, as well as food and ice.

The most luxurious part of the Cedar Grove Village area is the showers, available to anyone in the park. The lodge’s market sells shower tokens for $1.50 for three minutes. (You can use multiple tokens to extend your hygienic routine, but make sure to allow each token’s time to run out before inserting the next. Otherwise, it’s a wasted token.)

Other options

Outside Kings Canyon, nearby campgrounds include:

—Convict Flat Campground, a first-come first-served spot with five campsites in Sequoia National Forest. It’s free to use with the entry fee you pay to get into the park. Light on amenities, it has a vault toilet and no potable water. It’s about 11 miles from the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon.

—Princess Campground, an 88-site reservation-only site in Sequoia National Forest featuring giant Sequoia stumps, a Sequoia grove and a meadow with wildflowers. Amenities include drinking water, vault toilets and an amphitheater. It’s about 23 miles from the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon.

—Sunset Campground, a 158-site reservation-only campground in Sequoia National Forest, three miles from the Kings Canyon entrance. It boasts beautiful trees, cellphone reception, flush toilets and a camp store that sells ice, firewood and other necessities. It’s about 30 miles from the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon.

What to pack

If camping, you’ll want to pack the usuals, including: a tent, sleeping bags, an air mattress or other cushioning, extra blankets and pillows. Remember to pack a few light sources. I always like to have both a headlamp and a few solar-powered lanterns. And, just because I’ve forgotten each of these items on various trips, I will remind you: Don’t forget to bring a mallet for your tent stakes, your camping chairs and a shovel to dig out the campfire pit.

You will not have cellphone reception in the Cedar Grove area. For safety reasons, you should share your trip itinerary with a family member or friend, along with an estimated time of when you’ll be back. There is a pay phone at the Cedar Grove Lodge. For the zoomers reading, that’s a coin-operated phone you can use to make calls. Maybe put a roll of quarters in your car, just in case.

Bear safety

Kings Canyon is home to American black bears. Throughout the park, you’ll find signs reminding you to be “bear aware.” That includes ensuring that all food, beverages and scented items (like shampoo, toothpaste and lip balm) are stowed in a bear box when you aren’t using them. This applies to not only campgrounds but also trails. At trailheads, you will find bear-proof brown vaults where you should stow any snacks and scented items you aren’t taking on the hike. (I left half a bar of chocolate in one, and no one stole it. The honor system is alive and well in this park!)

The park advises that, if you see a bear, clap your hands and in a loud firm voice yell: “Get out of here, bear!” You should report all bear sightings to a ranger. Leave the bear spray at home, though. Bear spray is illegal in national parks where only black bears are present.

Where to day hike

The Kings Canyon Cedar Grove area has plenty of day hikes to choose from, all of which you can hike without a permit. Wilderness permits are required only for overnight trips. Here’s a three-day itinerary of the best spots to go to if you’re visiting for a quick weekend.

Roaring River Falls to Zumwalt Meadows

Day 1: After setting up your tent, hit the trails for an introductory stroll at the Roaring River Falls parking area. This short paved path leads you to a nice-sized waterfall noisy enough you’ll know how it earned its name. This is a nice spot to unwind and have a picnic. (Though swimming is not advised. Drowning is the most common way people die in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.)

Once you’re done at the waterfall, you can take the nearby dirt path about two miles to the backside of Zumwalt Meadows. Flooding in 2019 washed out its boardwalk, so this is no longer a loop trail. That said, it’s a pleasant walk between the canyon walls where you can appreciate your first taste of beauty before embarking on bigger adventures tomorrow. Plus, there are a few sandy spots where the current is manageable. Life jackets are advisable for younger kiddos or anyone who cannot swim.

Mist Falls trail

Day 2: This is when you’ll want to do your longest hike. For that I’d recommend heading to the Road’s End parking area to tackle the Mist Falls trail, an eight-mile out-and-back trail that will lead you through forest, wetlands, over boulders and up to a massive, humbling cascade of water. The last mile is where you gain the most elevation, so make sure you’re hydrated and sated with a power snack for that final push. After completing the trail, head over to Muir Rock for a swim. Be mindful of the current.

Hotel Creek trail

Day 3: Do you have one more hike in you? Great! This last one is a treat, especially as the sun rises. Head to the Hotel Creek trailhead, located about a half mile north of the Cedar Grove Lodge. You have two main options here. You can hike 4.4 miles out and back to the Cedar Grove overlook, where you will find panoramic views of the whole park. Or, you can do a 7.3-mile loop of Hotel and Lewis Creek. From the overlook, I watched the early morning light over the canyon, feeling like a little speck of stardust in our vast universe.

Bonus: I was alone until the final mile when I saw three hikers. Like I’m saying: a chill Yosemite!

Other activities

—Fishing is allowed in most areas of Kings Canyon. Those 16 and older must have a valid California fishing license. The park advises you should buy one before arriving, as they aren’t always available in its markets. You are allowed to keep some of what you catch, including rainbow trout. You must follow daily limits, and must take note of the areas of the park that are catch and release only.

—Horseback ridesare sold through the Cedar Grove Pack Station. They offer one- and two-hour rides for $70 and $110 respectively, and half ($180) and full-day ($230) trips. They also sell pack trips where mules and horses, led by a packer, carry your group and gear to a backcountry site.

—Head underground to the Boyden Cavern, a marble cavern that features stalactites, stalagmites and other geological delights. A walking tour, which takes about an hour, will cost between $8 and $23 depending on age, date and time. Staff also offers a flashlight tour at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. if at least four people buy tickets. That tour takes up to 75 minutes and is $35. The cavern is about 10 miles west of Cedar Grove off Highway 180.

—Picnic near Grizzly Falls, an 80-foot waterfall in Sequoia National Forest, just under five miles from Cedar Grove. It’s a short walk from your car to the picnic area where you can view the falls.

Regardless of whether you spend your days relaxing along the South Fork, or hit the back country for more rugged hiking, you will return home feeling refreshed and energized. In an era where escaping the bustle of the city often means swapping one type of crowd for another, Kings Canyon is an underpopulated gem that, for now, proves that nature can still be peaceful.

_______

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

If you’re a fan of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” — and who isn’t, really? — you can’t help but be a little interested in “The Killer’s Game.”

In theaters this week, the action comedy stars Dave Bautista, but it also boasts Pom Klementieff. The two, of course, portray Drax and Mantis, respectively, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and are comedic gold in a couple of the big-screen “Guardians” adventures, as well as in the hilarious “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” from 2022.

That pairing, however, isn’t enough to lift “The Killer’s Game” above the level of mediocrity, the tonally challenged flick squandering a vaguely promising first act by devolving into a warmed-over “John Wick” wanna-be.

Helmed by JJ Perry, the director of the similarly uneven 2022 Netflix release “Day Shift,” “The Killer’s Game” plays like two separate movies for much of its roughly hour-and-45-minute runtime. When the beefy Bautista, cast as renowned assassin Joe Flood, shares the screen with veteran actor Ben Kingsley, who portrays his mentor, or co-star Sofia Boutella, who plays his love interest, it fits roughly within reality as we know it and even finds an emotional center; at all other times, it’s an over-the-top kill-fest, with skulls crushed, body parts severed and impalings to spare.

Were those action scenes topnotch — aka “Wick”-level — and not merely passable, that would be a bit more forgivable.

Written by Rand Ravich and James Coyne, who have adapted the 1997 book by Jay R. Bonansinga, “The Killer’s Game” introduces us to Joe in Budapest, where he’s on the job at a more-than-century-old opera house, which on this night is hosting a ballet. He does his job quietly, as usual; nonetheless, machine gun fire follows the “retirement of his target,” and he helps dancer Maize — with whom he’d locked eyes during the performance — out of the building safely.

On the street, she thanks him and worries about the headache he’s having, but when she turns her back, he vanishes.

However, when he returns something to her at a dance studio, she gives him her number and — after Joe workshops a few follow-up texts — they’re out to dinner, where, of course, they hit it off. Soon they’re dating. She continues to dance, and he continues to kill, worrying, increasingly, about how she’d feel if she knew how he makes his substantial living.

Dave Bautista’s hitman and Sofia Boutella’s ballet dancer fall in love in “The Killer’s Game.” (Courtesy of Lionsgate)

However, he’s also seen a doctor, who informs him the test results are dire. He will die in, perhaps, three months, and the best they can do is make him comfortable.

That is not how Joe — who’s always worked within a set of industry rules and has retired only those who’ve deserved it — wants to leave this world. He meets with his handler, Zvi (Kingsley), about directing some money to Maize and, more consequently, having himself assassinated. Zvi agrees to handle the former but not the latter, imploring his friend to fight to the end by visiting more doctors — even a shaman, if necessary.

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Enter Klementieff’s Marianna, whose business also is handling assassins. She is more than happy to take $2 million to have Joe killed, as she holds a huge grudge against him.

However, just before the killing window opens, Joe gets a call from his doctor, who says there was a mix-up with the tests and that Joe should be fine.

Unable to convince Marianna to cancel the contract, he soon is faced with a parade of killers — single operatives and groups, most with silly gimmicks and even sillier names. Most aren’t in Joe’s class, but Lovedahl (Terry Crews) proves to be a bit more of a problem.

Bautista (“Blade Runner 2049,” “Dune”) doesn’t have much range, and he isn’t called upon here to use his comedic gifts too often. That said, there’s simply something compelling about his performance, especially when he’s opposite “Gandhi” star Kinglsey or Boutella (“Atomic Blonde,” the “Rebel Moon” movies). It’s measured but not flat.

More time with Bautista and Klementieff would have helped “The Killer’s Game,” as, unsurprisingly, there’s a certain crackle to the limited time the two are in the frame together.

Pom Klementieff is a supporting player in “The Killer’s Game.” (Courtesy of Lionsgate)

A former professional wrestler, Bautista is, of course, imposing enough to be convincing in the myriad action sequences, most of which are, again, of the forgettable variety — even with all the gruesome deaths. Perry, who has a background in martial arts, hasn’t figured out how to deliver something special in this arena.

“The Killer’s Game” is afoot, but unless you’re looking for what’s only intermittently a pleasant distraction, one heavily seasoned with violence, you need not play.

‘The Killer’s Game’

Where: Theaters.

When: Sept. 13.

Rated: R for strong bloody violence throughout, language, some sexual material, brief drug use and nudity.

Runtime: 1 hour, 44 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.

A crime occurs. The cops are stumped. If only they had the services of a colorful outside investigator to solve their case. A common subgenre of the police procedural, “High Potential” on ABC suggests the limits of this premise. Whether mildly theatrical or even absurd, the character needs to be more than their quirks. I wonder if Hollywood has taken the wrong lesson from these kinds of ungovernable fictional creations first embodied in the stories of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

I’m desperate for the re-ascendance of old-school weekly broadcast shows — something, anything that distinguishes itself from the eight shows on offer from Dick Wolf across two networks — and “High Potential” (from Drew Goddard, whose credits include “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Alias” and “Lost”) starts off well enough.

Kaitlin Olson plays Morgan, a single mom who works the graveyard shift cleaning the offices of the Los Angeles Police Department. Dancing to music on her headphones, she accidentally knocks over a pile of crime scene photos and starts rifling through them. She’s transfixed. Then she looks over at the murder board. She walks up, grabs a marker, crosses out “suspect” under someone’s photo and writes “victim.”

Then she goes on with her night.

It’s such a tantalizing opening sequence (and a beat-for-beat recreation of the French series it’s adapted from) but strangely the show deflates from there. It’s quickly discovered that the cleaning woman — yes, that one, with the garish taste in fashion and loud mouth — has some helpful ideas about the case. She’s clever, with a good memory and a mind that sees patterns and makes connections, so she’s hired full-time, becoming the Erin Brockovich of police procedurals. The lieutenant (Judy Reyes, wasted in a nothing role) teams Morgan with a guy named Detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) who becomes her reluctant chaperone.

Olson is a good actor, but there’s not much versatility here; her line readings could just as easily come from the mouths of characters she plays on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” or “Hacks.” Morgan is a handful, with a chip on her shoulder, often tipping over into obnoxious. That works on Olson’s other shows, but “High Potential” needs its lead to be at least somewhat likable. In the first episode, she berates a cashier at the grocery store; the moment doesn’t illustrate her ability to do math in her head, it just makes her look like a person who takes her frustrations out on an easy target, aka someone who is working class like herself.

The show’s obvious touchpoints are long-running series like “Castle,” “Monk,” “The Mentalist,” or, more recently, “Elsbeth” and “The Irrational.” The cops are incapable of doing their jobs without the help of a dogged oddball whose unwieldiness requires a certain amount of corralling from their police minders. That framework is a lackluster substitute for Poirot’s Hastings or Sherlock’s Watson, who weren’t professional acquaintances but actual friends and point-of-view characters who threaded the needle between admiration for their counterparts and pausing to note their more absurd or annoying personality tics. It’s one reason why CBS’s “Elementary” was a cut above the rest.

“High Potential” struggles to ground itself in solid storytelling and create fully realized characters, even when they are one-offs. A case-of-the-week structure requires a specific skill and I worry writers are out of practice: Establishing a new storyline and new characters each time, with enough detail and care to get buy-in from the audience, and then resolving the mystery 40-some minutes later. Episodes should be able to stand alone as crackerjack short stories, but the results here are thin and insubstantial.

That would be easier to overlook if there were some chemistry in the central dynamic. Morgan is brash and curious and obsessive. That’s good. But she’s spent her life underestimated by everyone and we don’t get a sense of what it means to have a job that’s fulfilling, pays well and finally validates her intellect. Instead she comes across as a snarky sitcom character— even when talking about murder — whereas Detective Karadec is wooden, macho and often on the verge of popping a vein or two. This pairing of opposites doesn’t create sparks so much as a repetitive cycle. She’s smug. He’s frustrated. It gets tiring awfully quick. That they will learn to grudgingly respect one another doesn’t delight the way it should. Better writing and better performance choices — more nuance, fewer archetypes — would go a long way.

“These are laws! Principles that I devoted my entire life to protecting!”  Karadec yells after Morgan has obtained evidence through theft. Earnest outrage is certainly one way to play the scene. If he had said it deadpan, suggesting that police have a far more fluid concept of professional ethics, well, then you’d be cooking with gas.

“High Potential” — 2 stars (out of 4)

Where to watch: 9 p.m. Tuesdays on ABC

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic