Hex Mountain, Sasse Ridge — Sunday, May. 22, 2022

The trail is almost completely snow free with just a few patches left! Beautiful day and a beautiful mountain, but we tried to make it a loop and that bit didn't go well (details below). Make sure to read other people's notes on parking. Sounds like you are supposed to park by the fire station, but that is very unclear and not posted. 

The road is paved the entire way so nice and easy :-D unless you want to drive up and start on the Sasse trail side for a shorter hike. I recommend the regular Hex trail, but it is an option. There is no bathroom at the trailhead and you will need a map for navigation.

Other than a little snow at the top there was no water on the trail either. The trail starts on a old logging road (looks like they might be starting to develop some building sites) and has a couple sporadic wildflowers and some nice views of the lake. You are in full sun almost all the way. Once it turns to trail it climbs a pretty ridge through burnt trees with more mountain views. Towards the top we finally got some real trees and short break from the sun. This was where we found the patchy snow too. We brought spikes, but were fine with just poles. The last little bit at the top top stuck out above the trees presenting a lovely 360 degree view. It was a bit slick with scree, but not too bad. 

At the top I recommend following the ridge across to the sub-peak, checking out the views, and then coming back the way you came. For the way back we attempted a loop, but the trail was washed out so we ended up with a long road walk back to the car. The trail was nice, but not worth it if we had known. We tried to take the Sasse trail down and use a connector trail to cross Newport Creek and connect back up with the lower section of the Hex trail. Turns out the connector trail has completely eroded away and the hillside it rather unstable with a small cliff/canyon with the steam running through it. We spent a decent amount of time searching for a way across but didn't find one. Based on other reports it seems that this has been gone for some time now. The Sasse trail was nice and had a bit more wildflowers, but also more blowdowns and lacked the views that Hex had.