Bikes? no Deer? yes -- on the quiet Monday that I hiked to Hex Mountain. Make no mistake – even in the absence of bikes, this is a heavily-used ORV trail. That means ruts, loose rock and gravel, and generally difficult footing. The map in Dan Nelson’s book on day hikes in the Snoqualmie region is more accurate than Green Trails, which does not show the two trails near the top. The steep one to the left is used mostly by bikes. The more gentle one angles around the southeast side of Hex, losing some elevation, and intersects Sasse Ridge Trail # 1340.1. From there it climbs west to the top. I took this trail less-traveled on the way up. Where it reaches the crest of Sasse Ridge and intersects Trail #1340.1 the view north is awesome. You look down 1600 feet into the West Fork Teanaway, up to Elbow Peak and Jolly Mountain on the far side, and beyond to the Stuart Range. You don’t see this view from the other trail. Hex has two bare summits. I thought the higher one to the west was a bit risky with the trail between them crossing a narrow gravelly spine. On a windy day, this section was too exposed for me. From there, the trail skirts the west summit, which looks to be a scramble up a very steep open slope.

Drove I90 to exit 80. The FS road # was not marked, but go toward Sasse Mountain. April was a nice time of year to go, not too dusty yet. Dirt bikes use the trail and we saw lots of fresh tracks, but saw none mid-week. It was about 5.36 miles total with 1742 gain (according to my app) from Trail Head to peak. 5 mi, 1500 gain according to a trail book we used. Used Kachess Lake #208, map by Green Trails. Saase Mt. trail #1340, Trail Head mistakenly says #1302 at the bottom. But it’s labeled correctly at the summit of Hex mtn. (& on Green Trails # 208 ). It follows the ridge on the east side of Lake Cle Elum north to Sasse mtn. Beautiful views from the top! Nice spring hike!

We winter camped at the summit of Hex Mountain in the past and thought today might be a good day to see the summit again between snowmobile and motorbike season. It was. No problem getting to the trailhead. There were some patches of snow on the ground but it wasn't a problem. I think my sedan could have made it if we drove slow, our Rav4 had no issues at all. The trail alternated between dry dirt, mud, snow covered mud and snow of various depths (from a dusting to a foot deep in some drifts). Still, it wasn't difficult to find the way even through ours were the first footprints in the snow. The summit ridge and summit were quite windy and cold (40F but below freezing with windchill) so we were grateful to have warm layers to wear for our snack and the first part of the descent. Although we brought poles and microspikes, neither were necessary.

We left Yakima in a drizzle, it turned to rain near Ellensburg, then to very light snow near Roslyn. Where is the SUN? Our destination was Hex Mt. We reached the trailhead in a light snow. What to do, the trail was crusty snow mixed with open spots. Do we need snow shoes? What the heck, our day packs were already loaded down with winter stuff so what's a couple of more pounds. Up the trail we went and the open places slowly lost out to more crusty snow. The sky was overcast with light snow falling. As we gained elevation ice crystals began to fall and the trail grew somewhat icy. The frost on the vegetation was beautiful. This is a steep trail and we continued to gain elevation. As we did so the sky became lighter and the light snow gave way to more falling ice crystals-they are so pretty. As we neared the summit, the sky turned blue and we found our SUN! What a sight-a blanket or sea of clouds below us, blue sky and sun around us, and a 360 degree view-Rainier, Alta Mt to the west, Mt Stuart to the north, Daniels, Hinman, the list goes on and on. After lunch we put on YakTraxs and HillSound micro crampons to descend. Slowly the blue sky gave way to overcast and lightly falling snow. But, as my hiking partner Cascadian Kim said "we know the sun is shining someplace, we just have to find it". I am sure glad we did. What a wonderful winter outing.

We headed east of the pass, fueled by the possibility of hiking in the sun. We followed these directions (from Hiking With My Brother): I-90 to Exit 80. Head left over the freeway following Bullfrog Road to SR 903. Follow 903 for 10 miles through Roslyn and along Cle Elum Lake to FR 4305 (about 1/4 mile before the Wish-poosh Campground). Turn right into FR 4305 and follow for a half-mile to the first intersection. Veer left and continue on FR 4305 for another mile, watching for a sign pointing left to Sasse Mountain. We parked on the side of the road a little before the Sasse mountain sign due to snow on the road and walked 1+ miles on the (snow covered) road to the trailhead. As mentioned by @davethehawaiian, a map or GPS is recommended as a good chunk of the trail is snow covered. We got off track a few times but were able to find the trail again. Beautiful views and it was nice to catch a few hours of sun before the stormy weather system moved in. As we were driving back down, we saw a couple dirt bikers and trucks heading up but we saw no one else on the trail.