Hex Mountain Snowshoe — Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025

Bottom Line:

Challenging day on the mountain with a saturated snowpack and no hard freeze at lower elevations. The road ascent to the signed Hex Mountain trail junction was well-packed due to snowmobile traffic (although step off the trail and all bets are off!) Beyond that on the single-track Hex Mountain trail, I was breaking trail in soft snow, and even postholed up to my armpits once *with* some burly MSR snowshoes on. The lower layers of the snow firmed up somewhat above ~4K ft but I continued to hike carefully, gradually shifting my weight from snowshoe to snowshoe and shuffling my feet a bit to prevent myself from postholing. A lot more work than normal :) These conditions will persist until lower freezing levels arrive late in the weekend. On the other hand, the weather was sublime and there is plentiful snow from top to bottom!

Stats:

• Distance: ~6 miles
• Vertical: ~2000 ft
• Duration: 4-1/2 hours
• Road/Parking: Heading north on SR903, roadside parking is across from a small firehouse and just south of Newport Creek Dr. There is a private property/no trespassing sign and a gate on Newport, but this is the way. The lower part of the trail is in a private conservancy; higher up you will cross into the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. There was one other parked car. I displayed my Sno-Park pass having seen a sign about them near Ronald and not remembering if it was a "from this point on" kind of sign; there was otherwise no signage. The pullout is plowed.
• Weather: Sunny with increasing cloud, 40Fs, gusty winds on upper ridgeline so glad I packed layers
• Avalanche Forecast: "Moderate" below 5K ft, "Considerable" above. Evidence of avalanche activity on the steep slopes below the opposite ridge.
• Trail: A very quiet day on the trail - only saw one other hiked on the lower road, and nobody else (or even tracks) on Hex Mountain trail. The road has plenty of snowmobile traffic (head's up) - sound of distant snowmobiles only at the very end of the hike. The trees on this hike are absolutely beautiful, especially the silvery burn snags (although one of my favorite ancient old trees seems to have fallen since last year). Heading up Newport, you pass some development lots and reach a second gate on the right. Pass through that gate - left would be a significant detour. Although is a maze of spurs down low, the rest of the way up to the Hex Mountain junction is clear. Beyond that junction, there were no tracks or an obvious trail - just stay on the top of the ridge (which is a feature of this hike that accounts for its relatively low avalanche danger). Numerous down trees on the trail. Postholing was a challenge. When I ended up sinking in up to my armpits, one of my snowshoes was stuck under some buried trees boughs - it took a minute to extricate myself! Otherwise, slow and methodical foot placement with a gradual shifting of the weight and some shuffling of the snowshoes seemed to work well. The ground firmed up somewhat above ~4K ft. I did not summit Hex, stopping before the final treed slope up to the summit. From previous trips, I know there is a lot of debris in the trees and did not want to hurt myself postholing. CAUTION: Cornices on the south edge of the ridge, although generally the south side of the ridge has the more wind-scoured snow and less postholing.
• Takeaway: This is a trail for lots of snow. I was a little disappointed by a hike last year when there was not enough snow, and the early spring landscape was a little drab and disheveled. Conditions are good right now with deep snow top to bottom, although definitely not powder conditions! There was a thaw even at the Hex summit (5K ft). A hard freeze, some new snow, and a sunny day will yield optimal conditions!

Included a short video with some hiking footage, and high-def pics.

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.instagram.com/wta_alpinewanderer/
• https://nwac.us/avalanche-forecast/#/east-slopes-central