I've done this hike many times as a 2-day backpacking trip or as a long dayhike. It has a couple of options depending on the amount of daylight you have. Starting at the 20-mile Ranger Station, I generally head up the Wolf Ridge Trail to Parson Bald, then over to Gregory Bald, then back down the Long Hungry Ridge Trail to the 20-mile Trail then back to the car. If I want a longer trip, I bypass the Long Hungry Ridge Trail and head over to the AT at Doe Knob. From Doe Knob head south on the AT to Shuckstack and climb the tower. Then it's back north on the AT for a 1/2 mile to the 20-mile Trail back to the 20-mile Ranger Station (the 20-mile Trail is an old road, so it's rather boring at times). The short loop is 15.7 miles and the long loop is 18.6 miles.
I went late last year and was glad to see that they had built additional bridges on the Wolf Ridge Trail. In the past you had to ford the creeks a few times.
True there's a long drive to and from the trailhead. I like leaving around 4:30am in order to get there early. I can't see defining an AOC dayhike event using such timeframes (and get any takers

), but I like getting an early start when heading up there.