If I'm hiking locally, I'll usually leave at 4:30 on Saturday morning for weekend trips. If in the Sierra (3 1/2 to six hour drive), I leave early Friday afternoon and sleep near the trail head, hiking in early Saturday morning.

I do lots of weekend trips with the occasional extra Friday or Monday vacation day, and I use every holiday available -- in fact, I often tack on an extra vacation day to holidays to get four days in and miss the traffic. For example, on Labor Day Weekend I took the following Tuesday off (although that wasn't a hiking trip but a hunting trip). For Thanksgiving I almost always take off the Wednesday before, traveling on Tuesday afternoon, so I get five full days (could this be one of the reasons I'm not married anymore?).

I take one week-long hike per year, with the first Saturday and the last Sunday as travel days.