I voted day hike, but for me it would have to be two day hikes. It's incredibly muddy in September or October; it's going to be hell in June.
Your time estimates match up pretty well with my experience, except my round-trip for Couchee was 3:45. The first time Susan and I went up, we did Santanoni and Panther, then headed back out. Took us 11 hours all together. More than an hour each way for Santanoni. There were a few false summits.
When I returned solo to bag Couchsachraga 364 days later, it took me 12 hours seven minutes total time, but I had spent about 20 minutes atop Panther and I had a sore leg the entire trip (had foolishly worn new boots two days earlier on hike of Allen.)
Figure close to a half hour for the round trip for Panther, plus however much time you want to spend up there; it's a great summit. There is a pretty steep climb to it, though, that could cause you some serious problems if you fell. The third time I went up it, though, there seemed to be more erosion that somehow made it easier than the first two times.
My third trip, I should mention, was so that Susan could bag Couchsachraga. I didn't mind; I wrote that Couchee was my second-favorite mountain in my Forty-Sixer report.
Here were our times for this hike, so you can concentrate on beating them when you go:
Start: 6:32 a.m.
Herd path: 8:28 a.m. (we'd improved — under two hours)
Panther Brook: 9:14 a.m.
Nine minute rest.
Ridge (junction between Times Square and Panther): 10:14 a.m. (waited three minutes for Susan to arrive)
One minute to Times Square.
Swamp (low point between ridge and Couchsachraga): 11:28 a.m.
(The herd path, incidentally, is off toward the right after you cross the swamp, not straight ahead or to the left. Sometimes there's a ribbon marking it, sometimes not.)
Summit: 12:04 p.m. There are several false summits along the way.
Lunch; left top at 12:29 p.m.
Swamp: 1:05 p.m. Spent some time chatting with a mother and son on the other side. He was planning to head out to Santanoni later, but I can't imagine that could have made it.
Times Square: 2:18 p.m.
Re-visited Panther, left summit at 2:39 p.m.
Ridge junction: 2:55 p.m.
Lower Panther Brook crossing: 3:57 p.m.
15 minute break.
State trail: 4:58 p.m. Everything's taking us longer on the descent, I notice.
Car: 6:59 p.m.
So 12 hours 27 minutes, this time. We were 46 and 47 years old at the time, September 12, 2003. It was the same day that Johnny Cash and John Ritter died, for what that's worth.
I think Couchee may have been Susan's second-favorite, too.
One other tip: Wear a hat, for the times you have to put your head down and bull your way through the branches.
