Climbed Hex, then continued along the ridge trail to Howson and Peak 5159. Spoiler: I saw a BEAR!
Monday morning, sunny skies, arrived at the "trailhead" around 8:30. As the previous report mentions, the location marked as the trailhead on Google Maps does not seem to want to be a trailhead anymore as there are some NO PARKING signs up. I continued on 903 to the next turn off and drove up to the gate. Parked on the side of the dirt road there, which seemed fine.
I came across zero human beings all day. Nobody else parked and nobody else on the trail (unless they arrived after and left before me which is possible). Hike up to Hex Mountain was pretty easy and straightforward. I used CalTopo on my phone to navigate the initial dirt road portion. Blowdowns along the trail were easy to traverse and snow patches were inconsequential. Some red and yellow wildflowers were in bloom (though I don't know their names). Arrived at the summit at 10:45. Views were superb in all directions. Stuart and the Enchantment peaks to the northeast, Daniel and Hinman to the northwest, and Tahoma standing dominant in the southwest. Plus to the east stretches Kittitas Valley with wind turbines visible in the hazy distance.
At this point it was only just 11:00, so I decided to continue north along the ridge trail towards Howson Peak. The "trail" from this point on was in much worse condition and I lost it entirely at several points due to large fire- and blowdowns and larger snow patches. Not far along the ridge, I turned a corner and a black bear stood, oh, 50 meters in front of me, minding its own business. Exciting, but a bit nerve-wracking. First bear I've ever seen in the wild. I backtracked a bit and clambered up a nearby rock precipice to get a safer view. The bear didn't seem interested in me in the least and quickly went on its way down the west side of the ridge.
I reached Howson Peak around 12:45, bushwacking a bit more than ideal since I kept losing the trail, though there's very little in the way of undergrowth to deal with. Just lots and lots of burnt logs and branches. On the return trip I had a bit more luck staying on track and ran into an abandoned dirt bike along the ridge between Howson Peak and Peak 5159.
I decided to make a quick detour up to Peak 5159 at which point it started to rain lightly and I heard thunder in the distance. This was a little scary, but the rain was never more than a drizzle and within an hour, the weather was back to its hot and sunny self, as if nothing had happened.
From Hex back to the car, I decided to take a different route on the east side of the valley. This ended up being a mistake because even though CalTopo said there was a trail crossing back west over Newport Creek, this does not seem to exist (or at least I completely missed it). My scramble down and up the other side of the rather steep ravine was rather uncomfortable. Eventually I made it back to the dirt road I started on and reached my car just after 5:30.
Overall, it was a fun -- if long -- day with lots of adventure. Would recommend!
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