Hex Mountain, Sasse Ridge — Saturday, Apr. 23, 2016

Snoqualmie Region > Salmon La Sac/Teanaway

Did a little evening hike over in Roslyn, with the goal being a summit followed by beer flights at Roslyn Brewing Co. Coming from Seattle we were a little unsure of where the snow line would be, but figured a south facing slope would be a safe bet given the recent stretch of warm (read HOT) weather. FS 4305 off of WA 509 is open and clear, although rough in a few places. FS 118 is considerably rougher and still has a few small patches of snow to clear through. Parts of the road are washed out so bad a sedan would not make it without several hard bottom-outs. Bring your high-clearance and as long as there's snow, the 4x4 too. The first mile of the trail is in great shape, completely snow free except for a few patches on the old logging road. After a mile in there is some underbrush that has overgrown the trail quite a bit but its still very easy to follow and its still snow free. Near the top of the the trail, the last half mile is chalked full of tree blow downs, some of them very difficult to navigate around. Having never done this hike before, we had to break out the topo map and navigate ourselves up the mountain, around the blow downs, short-cutting the trail switchbacks to reach the top. If you're uncomfortable with minor route finding, here is your turnaround point until the forest service gets some chainsaws in there. The top ridge of Hex at 5000' is almost completely melted out, just a few hundred feet of snow remain. We explored a bit of Sasse Ridge and had no issues, I brought the trail crampons but never needed them. That said, on the north facing exposure, the snowpack levels looked like it dropped to at least 3500' if not below still so take note if hiking elsewhere in the Roslyn/Cle Elum area. Great early season April hike. Hopefully this trip report helps anyone looking for a mid-elevation hike with alpine views that's melted out! Bonus points for getting beer flights at Roslyn Brewing Co post-hike!