Oh man yes. I did almost the same thing two summers ago, bailed on the JMT and did a loop out of Onion Valley instead. Saw like 4 people in 5 days and caught golden trout until my arm got tired. My buddy did the full trail and said it was a traffic jam the whole way, plus he lost a toenail. Honestly the famous routes are famous for a reason but the crowds and the wear on your body just aren't worth it sometimes. Give me the quiet loop any day.

Wouldn't it be more about the password manager itself than the dog name? The dog name plus 123 thing is weak, but reusing one password on 14 sites is the real problem, since one leak opens all of them at once.

Did you actually test that at different hours though, or just assume the 8pm thing because your coworker said it? I've been in and out of China for years and honestly the blocks seem random to me, some days it's fine all night and other days it dies at 2pm for no reason.