The hike we planned takes us first to the farthest mountain– Sawteeth– then hiking through the peaks, back to the beginning. The first hour or more of this hike could easily be done in the dark. The first few miles are done on an actual road, passing a golf course and resort, and then on an easy, level path. As the trail starts to climb, there are nice views of Lower Ausable Lake, Indian Head, and Rainbow Falls.
We got off the trail at one point and probably lost another half hour before we found our way back. Then we got through Sawteeth, Pyramid, Gothics, and Armstrong in pretty good time, but due to our two delays, it was later in the day than we wanted it to be.
When we got to Upper Wolfjaw, we considered taking an alternate trail that we had just passed that would have us skip Lower Wolfjaw but would get us out of the woods before dark. But we met some other folks there that had just come up that trail and they said it was so steep and treacherous that they would rather hike in the dark than hike down that trail. So we decided to go on, knowing that we wouldn't be done before sunset.
When we got to Lower Wolfjaw, the sun was pretty low in the sky, so we basically ran down the mountain, trying to get to less steep trail before we lost the light. (We succeeded at that, but my knees suffered for 3 months afterwards!)
On the trail out, we passed a middle-aged guy who had stopped to rest his aching knees and he was grateful for the ibuprofen I gave him. We passed his wife and kids a little way further. Later on, when it got dark, I regretted not asking them if they had flashlights or headlamps. Without any light, there was no way out of those woods. We did have lights, however, and though I didn't love being in the woods in the dark, I was glad that the trail was marked with highly reflective disks that were easy to spot with a light. It was about an hour of walking through the woods in the dark and another hour of walking along the country road back to the parking lot.
