The trail actually starts at a different location: 47.291829, -121.097825 (and not at 47.2851, -121.0893). The coordinates provided by WTA will lead you to a private property. Alltrails has a better map you could double check with.

First 2 miles of the trail go on an unpaved road, so there is a lot of room to keep distance and the elevation during this time is okay. GPS might be helpful as sometimes it's not clear where to turn as the road keep forking. However, there were a few pointers built out of branches so it should be doable without any gps.

The last ~1.8 miles it becomes steeper and you walk along the ridge with amazing views of surrounding mountains and the breeze from the snowy peaks that have not yet melted. 

All the way as you turn back you see the beautiful Cle Elum lake. 

It is a challenging hike but worth it. Don't forget the snacks and the water!

First of all,  enter Hex Mountain into Google Maps to find the trail off of Salmon La Sac. For some reason,  I never find the right entrance when I click on the link in the WTA site. 

Once you're there and start UP the trail wide enough for vehicle travel,  you'll quickly come to a fork in the road.  Take the fork to the RIGHT.  There's no indicator on the trail. And the app I used to track my hike indicated the trail was to the left.  It was not. We took a detour of trails for a couple miles that all just kinda ended abruptly.  Stay to the right. 

After a couple miles of a steady big incline,  you'll hit the only marker on the trail for the Hex Mountain trail.  Now the real fun begins.  The trail gets narrow and steeper and harder for a couple more miles before reaching the summit.  Worth the views at the top,  but not a beginner's hike.  And just as hard on the way down. 

It was dry and dusty,  so bring plenty of water.  Pace yourself and bring snacks.  It got very windy and chilly towards the top,  so bring layers.  But have fun,  you'll definitely feel a sense of accomplishment once you're back in your car. 

Pro-tip - don't attempt to make it a loop and come down Sasse mountain trail like we did. It doesn't connect to Hex Mountain Trail even if Gaia/Alltrails say otherwise

We were itching to get out after spending most of the month at home, and wanted to take a trail which was was far enough that it wouldn't be crowded, but near enough for a day trip, and we settled on Hex Mountain.

Parking on the trailhead is very limited (maybe 12-15 cars), and there aren't a lot of opportunities to park on the shoulder of Salmon Lasac road either, so I would recommend getting here early. The first mile, until we got to the actual trail is on many unmarked forest service roads, and was glad to have a GPS, as even with the directions on the descriptions, it was easy to take the wrong trail.
Once we reached the main Hex Mountain trail, it climbed steadily up along the ridge with expansive views of Cle Elum lake that opened up the further we climbed. The forest-fires of the recent past have thinned out the tree cover and we didn't get substantial shade until 1/2 mile before the junction with Sasse Mountain trail. Here, we got into the cool undergrowth and see colorful wildflower displays in early summertime. We pushed to the summit a short distance away, where we get 360 views of the surrounding snow-capped Cascades and its dry eastern slopes.

We decided to head down Sasse Mountain Trail as Gaia indicated a trail that connected back to Hex Mountain trail, and we could make it a loop. When we got to the junction however, we didn't see any such trail; either the trail was overgrown, or someone just decided to make a stray line on the topo map. We headed down further, and found a place where we could bushwack to cross Newport creek and join a fire road that connected back to the trailhead. It took a while, but would have been hard without a GPS

Overall, it's a great early season hike, with amazing wildflower displays that's worth a visit on a sunny day

After a few hikes this month on trails closer to Seattle, it was great to get into the big mountains with their expansive views and fewer people. The direct sun made the lower half of the trail pretty hot, though a few clouds and a light breeze kept us comfortable as we got higher. The trail is consistently steep. The views from the summit, as well as the secondary summit a few hundred feet to the east, are spectacular. 

Navigation is a challenge. For the main trail to Hex Mountain, I strongly recommend using an app such as AllTrails or Gaia. There are simply too many intersections to deal with and the apps make it easy. However, the way down is a different story if you take our route. We decided to take a different trail down (the Sasse Mountain Trail to the east) for variety. Here both apps failed us, as the trail did not cut across the valley and Newport Creek to the main trail as both apps clearly show, but rather continued descending until it connected with trail 4305.112 which goes down to the road a couple of miles away from where our cars were parked. Fortunately, if you descend part of the way, you come within about 500 feet of a spur that connects with the main trail, and it's easy to navigate those 500 feet off-trail. Knowing this, I'd readily go this way again. See my link below for the topo map.

Also, the trailhead is just off the Salmon La Sac Road, as described in the text directions in the Hiking Guide. But the map in the Hiking Guide mysteriously places the trailhead on a side road a mile away; I've submitted the correction, but if the map still shows the trailhead not on the main road, it's wrong.

Many flowers are out. There is no water on the trail now except a shallow stream that you cross near the end of the hike if you do the loop described above. Despite recent reports of mosquitoes, we found (or were found by) only a few flies at the summit.

A beautiful day on the trail! The road/trail is steep and confusing at times but the views more than make up for it. Like a previous report says, pay attention to your intersections. We thought we knew which one was the "main road" but ended up going the wrong way about a half mile in. At the first major fork in the road, stay right. If you start going downhill you chose the wrong path. You'll come to a second fork with two plausible options - stay right for this one as well. After this you just need to pay attention and look for the trail sign. It's huge, yet we still managed to walk right past it and spent most of our hike walking the road. It intersected with the trail eventually though and we had a new trail to explore going down! 

The flowers were an extra bonus to a great hike.