Be sure you have a map/GPS and have done a bit of research on the area. The approach from the road to the "trail head" is pretty confusing. Some earlier trip reports have good guides to navigating the forest roads. I got off track a few times (wasn't paying attention/ trusted flag markers it turned out damn near every direction of every intersection had flags...) Once on the trail though there is some snow, not enough to require snowshoes but it is melting so gaiters would be a good idea. Views from the top were great, all in all a great hike to take advantage of a clear spring day.

WARNING TO OTHER HIKERS: DO NOT PARK INSIDE THE GATE! I have snowshoed this route and wanted to see it without snow, so left Seattle at 9am and arrived around 10:30. There is a gate at the beginning of the road which was unlocked so we drove the first mile or so up the smooth dirt road, just to cut some of the boring part of the hike out. The hike itself was beautiful- wildflowers, views of Rainier, Stuart, and Glacier Peaks, and no other people. However, upon returning to our car and driving down the road we found that the gate was now locked, with us stuck inside. Only about 3 hours had passed since we had driven through this open gate. Apparently this is not a forest service road but a private one. We explored several other branches of the road network looking for a way out, or a person to help us, but all we found were more locked gates. We went back to the main Hex gate and explored on foot looking for a way around the gate. Eventually we found a path that someone else had driven recently (fresh tire tracks). Apparently we were not the first people to be trapped inside. This illicit path around the gate requires SUV ground clearance and AWD. You have to drive though trees down the side of the hill. We walked it first and it didn't look too bad, and our small SUV came through okay. But a valuable lesson was learned. Just because a hike is described on a public website does not mean the public has access to it. The attached jpeg shows the path around the gate in google earth.

Tough but amazing hike. So worth it due to the views! We went up the snowshoe route to make it 'authentic.' Please note we had a bear sighting on the way back. No other humans seem to use the snowshoe route this time of year and it was clear to us that we were the only ones to use it. Ran into only 2 other hikers today and they came up a different way. The did not come up from Hex trail head. For a full review with pictures please visit our blog! http://triplehhikers.blogspot.com/2012/08/hex-we-just-cant-get-enough-of-this-one.html

On the first day of summer I drove the Salmon La Sac Road 6 miles from downtown Roslyn and found the approach road for Hex Mountain on the right, signed Sasse Mountain Trail - 3 miles. (If you see the Wish Posh Boat Launch sign you went past the turn-off.) The road was in good shape and at each fork I stayed with the road that looked most traveled. (Left fork worked when in doubt) You know you're correct if you see mile markers indicating your progress to the trailhead. I knew that Hex Mountain was highly rated as a winter snow shoe trip but I wanted to see how it would be for an early season hike and indeed it turned out to be excellent. Views of Lake Cle Elum began within a quarter mile of the trailhead and continued to get better as you gained elevation. Many flowers were in bloom and it seemed even more were out in the afternoon when I was returning to my car. The trail was snow free except for a little patch near the top where you reach the ridge walk to the summit at 5,040'. (see pic below) The views of Rainier, Daniels, Jolly, Stuart, and the Enchantment Peaks were outstanding from the top. (Pics below) One could continue on the trail from Hex Mountain to Sasse Mountain but you'd have to give up a lot of elevation before climbing up to Sasse. 4 miles RT and about 1,600' of elevation gain - Short, sweet, and a tad bit steep!

So we were foolishly going to go snowshoeing at Hex Mountain from the previews from a few weeks ago and the usual mass amount of snow in the mountain. We arrived at the trailhead to find... no snow! The gate is still closed for the summer parking lot though. So since we only had the winter snowshoe map we had quite a few issues finding the real trail. We ended up hiking about 3 miles total to a bit of an overlook (we veered too far north as we later saw on the map). The hike itself was nice - mainly because we were the only ones there. There were some machines along the road that are cleaning the summer road to open up. There were loads of birds and flowers and we even saw a flock of what I think were pheasants. The views of Cle Elum lake were magnificent.