With a total time of 21 hours and 54 minutes, the Santanoni Range is the longest "single day" hike I have done. I knew this would be a long one and considered splitting it up, but the hike to the furthest peak would only be very slightly shortened by eliminating the other two, so I just prepared for a monster of a hike and set out to complete all three.

I arrived at the trailhead the night before my hike and found myself driving in during the annual firetower lighting, and was able to see lights on Mount Adams above me as I drove in. I slept in my car at the trailhead for just a few hours and began my hike at 3:30. 

The first thousand feet of elevation gain were spread throughout the five mile trek to the base of Panther Peak. From there the trail got steeper with a few difficult scrambles but nothing too crazy. After reaching the ridge I traveled north for about a quarter mile to hit my first summit of the day, Panther Peak. This route took me through a small bog then up some fun ledges that offered quite excellent views of the mountains I would be climbing next. Knowing I had a long day ahead of me I made my way over to Time Square and took the trail west to Couchsachraga. 

Couchsachraga is generally considered the worst summit in the High Peaks. Standing at just over 3,700' it was included in the original 46 due to a survey error. From Time Square it is nearly two miles to the summit of Couchsachraga, dropping 1,000' along the way and regaining 300', only to turn around and do it all again in reverse. Plus crossing through a bog that can be anywhere from ankle to waist deep depending on where you step. And after all that, there are no real views waiting at the summit. Despite all of that, I still found this hike to be a possitive experience overall. The hardest part was navigating down to the col from Time Square because that trail is quite rugged. Once I got down though I found the bog to be a non-issue, though I was there under extremely dry conditions. There are a couple scrambles on the final approach to the summit that offer a bit of a challenge but with some analysis and route planning I was able to make it up in just a few tries. Then I headed back for the long slog back up to Time Square. 

I returned to Time Square about an hour before sunset and was treated to some beautiful evening light filtering through the clouds. I made good time moving along the ridge and reached summit just as the sun was setting. For a range that is considered to have no views, I sure did get spoiled when I hiked it. At the time this was the best sunset I had seen in my entire life (only to be beat out by Redfield in a couple weeks) and it really made me thankful to be out in the mountains. 

Being reenerized by the amazing sunset, I made my way down the Santanoni Express. I am no stranger to being on the trail after dark, but I was admittedly a little nervous to be doing this descent in the dark. There was only one challenging slap on the descent and once I decided to just slide down it it was not too bad. 

I was very happy to reach the bottom of the Express and have a more gradual descent for the last 4.5 miles. The remainder of the walk out was mostly uneventful except for being spooked by a beaver in the river as I was crossing. When I finally got back to my car I was very happy to take my boots off and pass out until morning.