As many others have mentioned, the "start" of the trail (service road) has a gate that says No Parking. As others have also pointed out, there is a nice pullout just .3 miles south of the start, across from a fire station (that is not searchable on google maps but shows up as a small building if you zoom in on the road) that works perfectly for parking.

As of Memorial Day 2022 there were only a few small patches of snow along the trail near the top, and they were all easy to walk over or around. 

This is a nice, easy hike with some great views along the way. You'll end up with a nice lookout even if you just want to go 2 miles up the service road and stop at the true trailhead. The service road you start on does have several other roads branch off it that could be easy to accidentally wander down when not paying attention and get you lost. I would definitely recommend bringing a map/gps just for some peace of mind on that part.

Once you get to the true trailhead it's very straightforward to follow. There are a number of downed trees along the way to the top, nothing that you can't easily go over or around but a bit annoying at times, would be great if those were cleared sometime. 

The service road is fairly wide and open, and there's a lot of tree fire damage after, leading to a decent amount of exposure on the way so if it's a nice day definitely bring sun protection. The top is exposed and can be windy as well so layers may be important for you. We saw and heard a number of dirtbikers that day who came up via a different trail, as well as some ATVs along the service road later.

Otherwise there was no one parked when we arrived at the pullout at 8AM and we only saw a few other groups on the way down. It's slightly early in the season but considering it was a holiday weekend I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of crowds. Overall it was a great day hike with some awesome views at the end.

The trail is almost completely snow free with just a few patches left! Beautiful day and a beautiful mountain, but we tried to make it a loop and that bit didn't go well (details below). Make sure to read other people's notes on parking. Sounds like you are supposed to park by the fire station, but that is very unclear and not posted. 

The road is paved the entire way so nice and easy :-D unless you want to drive up and start on the Sasse trail side for a shorter hike. I recommend the regular Hex trail, but it is an option. There is no bathroom at the trailhead and you will need a map for navigation.

Other than a little snow at the top there was no water on the trail either. The trail starts on a old logging road (looks like they might be starting to develop some building sites) and has a couple sporadic wildflowers and some nice views of the lake. You are in full sun almost all the way. Once it turns to trail it climbs a pretty ridge through burnt trees with more mountain views. Towards the top we finally got some real trees and short break from the sun. This was where we found the patchy snow too. We brought spikes, but were fine with just poles. The last little bit at the top top stuck out above the trees presenting a lovely 360 degree view. It was a bit slick with scree, but not too bad. 

At the top I recommend following the ridge across to the sub-peak, checking out the views, and then coming back the way you came. For the way back we attempted a loop, but the trail was washed out so we ended up with a long road walk back to the car. The trail was nice, but not worth it if we had known. We tried to take the Sasse trail down and use a connector trail to cross Newport Creek and connect back up with the lower section of the Hex trail. Turns out the connector trail has completely eroded away and the hillside it rather unstable with a small cliff/canyon with the steam running through it. We spent a decent amount of time searching for a way across but didn't find one. Based on other reports it seems that this has been gone for some time now. The Sasse trail was nice and had a bit more wildflowers, but also more blowdowns and lacked the views that Hex had. 

I have a lot to say in this report so here's the TL:DR

Parking is not at the labeled TH(More details below)

The upper section has compact snow and it is VERY easy to get off trail

Lots of blowdowns

Wildflowers are starting to bloom(not at peak)

Also putting this under the snowshoe as well in case that's where people look for info

I've had Hex Mountain on my list for a while and conditions seemed right so I went for it.

The first thing to note is that parking for this trail isn't clear. It seems it's changed over the years, and before where parking was permitted there are now no parking signs and private property notices. Just back up the road from the TH across from the fire station is a pullout off the road where there is permitted and legal parking. I parked there, behind one other car. Please respect the private property in the area and be careful crossing the road. This parking adds only a few hundred feet of a road walk, so not too bad all things considered.

This trail is really in two sections, the first half is a roadwalk on forest service roads, and the second half is the proper Hex Mountain trail(signaled by the sign).

The roadwalk is nice, it's certainly one of the prettier roadwalks I've done, and this is the section where wildflowers can be found. Also tons of birds on the lower trail. I saw bluebirds, woodpeckers, jays, and a male grouse sounding a mating call. Also pretty good views even along the lower sections.

The roadwalk is easy but navigation is essential(this will be relevant later as well) it's easy to get onto the wrong road, there are quite a few branches and it's not clear which way to go. A GPS of some sort is really key here. There are no signs or markings that I saw guiding to the upper trail.

At the end of the roadwalk there is a great rocky viewpoint of the lake. Honestly a pretty good spot to just hike to by itself if you want something more casual.

At this point you'll see the sign for Hex Mountain, and start some more serious elevation gain. Overall I'd say the trail is easy, but there are a few sections of pretty steep grade(especially the final push to the summit). The ridge the trail follows is really fun and has lots of great views. It weaves in and out of mostly burned out forest.

However the upper trail is very difficult to follow. It's not well defined in some stretches. There are blowdowns with social trails going around them. In many places there is not much difference between the forest floor and the trail.

There is way less snow than I was expecting from the beta I had. It's pretty much only in the final 1/3 mile or so up to the summit. All compact and really easy footing. I did notice some snow bridges over fallen trees(which if punched through would be a nasty drop). The trail is even harder to follow on the snow. There is a bootpath to follow, but it's patchy and could be easy to lose. The final approach to the summit and the summit itself are snow free. I didn't need spikes on the way down or up(I packed them just in case) but they really weren't needed.

The summit is beautiful, exposed rock with great 360 views. A few cliffy drop offs, but nothing too crazy. Had the summit(and the trail) to myself. Really fun mountain.

Going back down is where I had trouble. With the snow and the forest so similar I got turned around a half dozen times. I started following bootprints which I thought were the same I had followed up(they weren't). Each time I had to consult my GPS to get back on path. It would be incredibly easy to get lost and go down the wrong ridgeline at this point. Please have good reliable navigation on this trail. I saw a lot of stray footprints that were making the same mistake, so please be very aware of staying on trail for the upper portion.

After I got onto the more well defined section of trail it was easy going back to the roadwalk and my car. Only one other car parked beside it. Saw a few families on the way back down, and one other hiker in the morning. But I was alone 99% of this trail. It was beautiful. Could certainly use some love on the upper section however.

Great mountain, the wildflowers will probably be even better in a week or so.

First half of the trail if forests service road.  It is 3/4 snow free. It can be confusing because there are so many side roads.  After about 1/2 mile we came to a flat area with a larger pile of cleared brush in the middle.  Stay on the road as it heads left (north) from here.  It quickly bends northeast.  There is another junction at about 1 mile in, stay right. (You can go left but it quickly bends west which is not the way you want to go).   Stay on the road till you get to a junction with the trail. The 2nd half of the trail is an actual trail that heads up the ridge.  Is it about 2/3 snow covered.  Snow is firm verging on ice.  At the summit it gets steep-ish for about 200 yards, good boots to kick steps or micro spikes recommend but not absolutely necessary.  Today it was really windy, I'd guess constant 20 to 30 mph.  

I did this trail 12 years ago and the big change is the burn.  I don't know when it happened, but the upper trail and much of the surrounding area are burned.  12 years ago it was green forest.  

The road to the trailhead is clear and easy to follow, though you do have to keep your eyes out for the parking on the left hand side of the road with a sign that reads, "Single cars only." I recommend parking head-in rather than parallel to allow space for more cars. On this sunny Friday before a long weekend, at 9:00 there were five other cars parked, and I passed 15 people throughout the entire hike. I had a blissful half hour at the top all to myself! This was my first hike entirely in snow, and came with microspikes and poles, which was all I needed. The snow was hard packed heading up, and getting soft coming back down 1-3pm. Quite a climb - almost 4 miles up, up, up the whole way. (And I'm pretty sore today, so I'm guessing that hiking in snow is harder on the body.) It's important to follow the directions in the hike description to find the trailhead down the street from the parking, and then stay on the main FR 116 for almost two miles. It's also important to have a GPS, especially if it's snowed recently and you’re breaking trail. I relied heavily on following other people's tracks and glanced at my GPS every so often to make sure I was staying near the trail. Also, stay back from the cornices along the ridge - super dangerous to step on the edges of those. On a clear day, the view is worth every step! First the views of Cle Elum Lake open up, then Mt. Rainier pokes up to the south. At the top, it's 360 degrees with Mt. Rainier, the desert to the east, the Enchantments, Mt. Stuart, and the whole Cascade range north to south. Just wow.