We hiked up to Hex Mountain via the Sasse Ridge (1340) Trail. The gravel road was a bit washboardy at first then deeply rutted, but if taken slowly, most cars will make it. And it's not that long.
We parked off the main road after the unmaintained sign, which is the turn for road 4305-118. Drive up this and park at the end to save yourself 1 mile. We took the old 0.4 mile trail which no longer goes through.
Once on the trail, we saw a lot of fire damage, but the ground was mostly green with rebirth. Flowers along the way included gooseberry, larkspur, balsamroot, paintbrush, lupine, Oregon grape, and strawberry.
We had obscured views of Baldy across Cle Elum Lake on the accent, but unobstructed views on the way down. We didn't see anyone until we got in sight of Hex, where there were 9 people either sitting atop, or heading down. Most went back down the Hex Trail. We climbed to the high point between people and headed back down. It was too chilly and windy to stay. And the views of anything notable were obscured so no photos. Below the saddle down in the burned trees, we saw what looked like a snowmobile - definitely not a native species. We wondered how many people actually see that sitting there.
On the way down we saw 8 deer. Also two motorbikers, who thankfully didn't dusty us out. On the drive in we saw what looked like a wild turkey, but not sure.

FR 116 is now a private road called Newport Mill Rd. After you walk in about 1/4 mile, take a right turn through another locked gate. It's marked with a sign from Nature Conservancy reminding you it's private property. There is parking for a few cars across from the fire station 0.2 miles before the access road, and also just beyond the junction with the access road. 

The trail itself is a very steep slog through burned out forest, but the 360 views from the top make it worthwhile!

Paved road to trail. Super easy. Parking down the road a bit across from fire station.

Trail has a few old snow drifts, now compacted down to icy blobs in the last few hundred feet to the top. None are on steep terrain or hard to cross. I did the hike in trail runners without issue.

Trail has quite a few smaller blowdowns. It would really benefit from a WTA trail crew or someone with a chainsaw. None of the trees are large enough to require a cross cut saw.

Arrived around 9am at the trailhead. Only one other vehicle was parked on the road. A lot of trees down across the trail and took occasional navigation to stay on the trail. Snow the last 1/3 or so. Not hard to cross, but added to the navigation fun. Made it to the peak around 10:45. We only saw about 6 or 7 groups all day. 

Did this hike on Friday 4/19. Snow conditions closer to the top are changing rapidly. No need for spikes but there were many small snow bridges that we had to navigate around. The trail was obscured by blow downs and snow so the closer we got to the top the more route finding we had to do. Having a map was necessary. The last push to the top was completely snow free but mostly loose sand and rock so it was slippery coming down. Beautiful views at the top were worth the extra work!