We easily turned this 7 mile hike into a 9 or 10 mile hike by getting very lost. It's a maze of old roads up there and, if you're not careful, you'll find yourself wandering along every overgrown pathway that seems to go up, just hoping to make it to the summit. 

Google tells you that you should be able to drive two miles up the road after turning of Salmon La Sac Road. Not true. The road is gated about 500 feet after the turnoff. Be careful when parking, there is a lot of dry brush on the side of the road and this area doesn't need any more wildfires! Walk up the road and past the yellow gate (first picture). Go up the hill and you come to a fork (second picture); go to the right. We went left and that was what doomed us. After the fork, you'll pass a couple overgrown roads to the right, but it's pretty obvious to stay on the main road. You'll reach another fork (third picture); go right again. You'll go uphill more steeply than you have until this point. The road will wind around a few times and when you seem to break the tree line, the sign for the Hex Mountain Trail will be quite obvious on your right (fourth picture). 

Hex Mountain trail is in good condition. There are a few places where dead trees have fallen over the trail, but dirt bikes and other hikers have make clear paths to go safely around these. This is a multi-use trail and we encountered a small group of dirt bikers on the trail and saw a few ATVs on the ridge across the valley. When you reach the top, the trail will first pass in front of the summit and then switchback so you can make it to the true summit. Weirdly, there was a HUGE swarm of ladybugs at the summit. I've never seen anything like it and have no idea what was attracting them there. They landed all over us and our stuff. These were the only bugs, aside from the occasional grasshopper (cricket?) and butterfly that we saw.

Views were great! Check out my Instagram post for the scenic photos. 

      We had a great hike after the day started with heavy rain and lightening storms.  The trail quickly turned to powder dry on the sunny southern/ western facing slopes. Some moisture was evident in the trees on northern/ eastern facing slopes.  Unfortunately the wildflowers were past their peak.  Huge sections of the trail were covered with magenta fireweed in the areas burned two years ago.  It turned out to be a great day for a hike as we saw no one all afternoon.  If you like solitude and great views this is the hike for you. Erosion is starting to be evident on steep sections in the burned areas where there is nothing to hold the soil.  This was a first time hike for our group and we were delighted with the views at the summit. The Stuart Range, Enchantments to the Manastash Ridge were in clear view.  Low hanging clouds were thick over the Cascades so any possible views to the west and south were nonexistent.  Deer and elk scat was everywhere and lots of prints were on the trail but we did not see any animals.  We were graced by one friendly chipmunk and saw huge groups of Junco's.  Overall a great hike, worth repeating when the skies are totally clear.

Challenging but fun hike. Heads up, there are two forks in the road you will come across, make sure to keep right on both. Our party was unaware and took the second left, ended up trekking through the side of the mountain to get back to the trail and added an additional 2 miles to the trip. Once we caught back up with the trail it ascended steeply up, would not recommend for too-small of children. It was challenging, but definitely do-able for most people depending on the amount of rest breaks you want to take. Views from the top included Rainier and the Enchantments. Lots of bugs at the top but not throughout the hike. 

I wasn't sure there'd be much left of the wildflowers, but I was quite happily surprised to see many things still blooming - some even just beginning.

The route is pretty steep in places and walks some narrow ridges - there's nothing with crazy exposures, but some slopes are steep enough on one side that if you are afraid of heights, you may be uncomfortable for short periods. The hillside that drops down the the north of the peak of Hex Mountain itself is pretty dizzying to look down- but it's not hard to stay away from the edge. The trail starts out on old road - it is at times not particularly clear which is the main road and which are the branches.. just stay right at the two most unclear forks and you'll be on the right route. The sign for the trailhead is there and easily visible. Once you are on the trail it's not hard to follow at all. There's a few more road crossings than show on the Green Trails map, but it's not hard to find the trail on either side of them.

It was very, very windy along the ridges - keep your eyes and ears open - there are patches of burn with some risk of limbs or even trees coming down if it really kicks up. The trail is very nicely peaceful - we saw only two other couples the entire day - oh and a bear.... We heard a bunch of crashing in the underbrush as we were heading back down. We stopped and expected to see a deer pop out of the trees, but no it was a bear! I clapped my a hands and he ran off, like a good bear should. My GPS indicated the mileage is probably closer to 9 miles than 7.

The coordinates in the description are not accurate. If you follow the directions on how to get to the start of the hike, it is better. The start of the hike is not your standard trailhead it is not labeled. The forest service road is also not labeled. It’s just off the road in front of a gate. The road you start hiking on has off chutes that look like the main road. Keep going straight. Once you get to the trail it’s clear. There are some spots where you have to leave the trail due to downed trees but it was pretty clear. Views of Rainier were wonderful! We ran in to some people that started this hike from another trailhead and said it was trail the entire time and a beautiful trail.