They are all right! I just did this a few weeks back. If you leave from Crescent Meadow in Sequoia, it's 19.8 miles to Precipice (about 6000+ aggregate gain). The first 11 miles are hot and sunny. The next 8 are immensely beautiful.
Permits can be tough to get, but if you start from the Wolverton Trailhead, you will add a mile and a couple hundred feet of climb, but will have an easier time getting permits.
If you have your dates in mind, SEKI does a fax-in-your-permit-a-thon on March 1st. Just fax in your permit then, and you're pretty likely to get a permit for your first-choice date.
