Hex Mountain, Hex Mountain Snowshoe — Friday, Feb. 18, 2022

The road to the trailhead is clear and easy to follow, though you do have to keep your eyes out for the parking on the left hand side of the road with a sign that reads, "Single cars only." I recommend parking head-in rather than parallel to allow space for more cars. On this sunny Friday before a long weekend, at 9:00 there were five other cars parked, and I passed 15 people throughout the entire hike. I had a blissful half hour at the top all to myself! This was my first hike entirely in snow, and came with microspikes and poles, which was all I needed. The snow was hard packed heading up, and getting soft coming back down 1-3pm. Quite a climb - almost 4 miles up, up, up the whole way. (And I'm pretty sore today, so I'm guessing that hiking in snow is harder on the body.) It's important to follow the directions in the hike description to find the trailhead down the street from the parking, and then stay on the main FR 116 for almost two miles. It's also important to have a GPS, especially if it's snowed recently and you’re breaking trail. I relied heavily on following other people's tracks and glanced at my GPS every so often to make sure I was staying near the trail. Also, stay back from the cornices along the ridge - super dangerous to step on the edges of those. On a clear day, the view is worth every step! First the views of Cle Elum Lake open up, then Mt. Rainier pokes up to the south. At the top, it's 360 degrees with Mt. Rainier, the desert to the east, the Enchantments, Mt. Stuart, and the whole Cascade range north to south. Just wow.