ROAD: the dirt road for parking is unmarked, but the WTA and ALLTRAILS directions get you to the correct dirt road and there’s parking for about 10 cars on the dirt road before the gate
TRAIL: We followed the dirt/gravel road for about 1.5 miles beyond the gate. The road is a steady up with no signs saying which road to stay on. We followed the ALLTRAILS map.
There is a large sign where you’ll leave the road and begin the Hex Mountain trail. If you thought the road was steep, the trail is even steeper. Some areas are loose gravel and slipping is easy (like walking on marbles). Poles helped. Only a couple trees to climb over and a few small patches of snow to cross.
The views are grand most of the way to the top – looking down at the lake and across to the snow-covered peaks. At the top you can see Mt. Stuart and the Enchantment peaks. We first went to the east peak and then looked back and determined the west peak is the actual, taller Hex Mountain Peak (but it was fun walking the ridge between the two peaks).
It was quite windy at the top, but no bugs. The breeze also made it quite cool, but we found a sheltered, warmer area on the ridge between the peaks to enjoy our lunch.
This is a fun and interesting hike. Many varieties of flowers were blooming and we spotted a bluebird and woodpecker. We met a couple motorcycles. Though the trail was not crowded, we passed a fair number of groups along the way.
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