I'm trying to pick a round trip route up the wildcats that avoids too many prolonged "very rough and steep" sections. Cori and I did King Ravine up Adams last weekend, and while the views were awesome it was a little stressful.

The alltrails.com map shows a much more even route up starting at the ski area with no name. I assume this is the route referred to in trip reports as "Wildcat Ski Area Trails". Is it fairly easy to follow, and OK for dogs (private property, so I guess they could turn me away...).

TIA.

There are no prolonged steeps on any of the regular routes up Wildcat.

King Ravine is in the top ten or twenty sustained-and-steep trails in the Whites, would not be my first choice if you or your dog don't like steep stuff. For future reference, Air Line is a good alternative - great views, same overall gain but generally easier as you don't go straight up the ravine headwall.

I don't have a map in front of me, but it's common to hike up the Wildcat ski trails (Polecat, the green-dot run, is the usual recommendation). In winter there's a designated route and they require purchase of a "trail pass". Not sure what their dog policy is, call them.

Your other options are via Carter Notch (nineteen mile brook trail is a very gentle grade; you then have a short but remarkable climb out of the notch), or from the Glen Ellis trailhead (some open ledges, one particular spot that's a little airy but has great footing in summer). A traverse over these (I'd go northbound) would be a fine hike if you can arrange a ride.