Well fighting a cold I hadn't gotten out in 2 weeks so decided I had to try something and hopefully get out of the fog. Thom met me at the Issaquah Park and Ride and we hit the 76 miles drive to the trailhead.
Hex Mountain routes.
Thinking it would be warmer I saw temps as low as 11 degrees on the road to the trailhead. I think the CRV thermometer said 14 degrees when we parked. It didn't feel THAT cold however.
Hex mountain trailhead parking. Temp was 11 degrees.
Road.
We walked to the the Newport Creek road route (.16 miles from the car) which is pretty much the standard route everyone and their dog has used of late.
Starting up road/trail to Hex Mountain.
Starting up road/trail to Hex Mountain.
The road was nicely packed down so the snowshoes remained on our back. As we climbed it got brighter and warmer.
Walking road to Hex Mountain.
Walking road to Hex Mountain.
A few views open up.
Early views from road to Hex Mountain.
Early views from road to Hex Mountain.
Early views from road to Hex Mountain inversion layer.
In 1.87 miles/1071 feet gain of relatively easy walking the summer trailhead is reached. The road continues on.
Hex Mountain summer trail.
Views from start of Hex Mountain summer trail.
Once on the trail the route steepens and narrows a bit. Still no snowshoes used. Thom opted to don microspikes which I had put on at the car.
Thom putting on microspikes.
More tree hiking then it opens up and dips briefly for the best views short of the summit.
Views from Hex Mountain trail.
Looking up towards summit.
Inversion on Hex Mountain trail.
Inversion on Hex Mountain trail.
Views from Hex Mountain trail.
Views from Hex Mountain trail.
For the final bit back in the trees and you enter the national forest.
Entering national forest on Hex Mountain trail.
Final push to junction below Hex Mountain summit.
No more views now until basically on the summit. The last part (50-75 feet) to the summit is open and pretty steep. If this was icy I would have been not so comfortable on it without better traction and maybe an ice axe. Too bad too because it's such a short distance, but unless you do it, you miss all the views. The summer trail part takes you up the last 1500 feet in about a mile and a half.
Hex Mountain summit.
The views are worth it for sure.
Me on the summit of Hex Mountain
Views towards Mt. Daniel from Hex Mountain summit.
Views from Hex Mountain summit.
Pano from Hex Mountain summit.
Pano from Hex Mountain summit.
Stuart and Enchantment peaks from Hex Mountain summit.
Stuart from Hex Mountain.
Rainier from Hex Mountain summit.
Rainier from Hex Mountain summit.
It felt about 50 degrees up there and we found a spot out of the light breeze for a nice lunch. We had the summit to ourselves the entire time.
Rainier from Hex Mountain.
Views from Hex Mountain.
Views from Hex Mountain.
After lunch we could see snowmobile tracks heading down the other ridge. We decided to check that out. It looked like a cool spot.
Views from Hex Mountain.
Heading to knob just past Hex summit.
Views from Hex mountain.
Views from Hex mountain.
Rainier from Hex mountain.
Looking back up Hex mountain.
Indeed it was. I got to the bottom where you go back into the trees and waited for Thom.
Thom heading down from Hex mountain knob below summit.
Looking back up at Hex Mountain summit.
Thom heading down from Hex mountain knob below summit.
We regrouped and went down through the trees following snow mobile tracks as best we could, staying on the rough track I had traced based on Ragman and Rodman's report. After a bit we started to hear all the snowmobiles and hit their mecca.
Cast of snowmobiles below Hex.
We there ran into the rangers as we were figuring out the route as we plodded along. They warned us not to take the road to the left which would have left us a 4 mile road walk back to our car. It wouldn't have taken long to figure that out with the GPS had we made that mistake.
The rest of the trip was pretty much slogging down following varying degrees of snowmobile and boot tracks.
Thom heading down.
Down Hex.
Near the bottom we found some tracks that appeared to be a short cut back to the car. I was one for a short cut.
We were there.
Heading down Hex.
Unfortunately the tracks kind of faded and it became a steep slog of make your own back to the car. Probably didn't save any time, but I wasn't gonna go back up. It dumped me out very close to the car by the fire station.
The car was a welcome sight. I had about enough for the day as my cold was starting to hit home more.
Back to road/parking.
Still it was nice to get out of the fog and up to some decent weather. Considering all the recent traffic, no crowds (in fact nobody) in the summit area and only the brief area of snowmobiles on the way back. The snowmobiles were all courteous but that didn't help the stench of 2 cycle oil in the air in that brief area.
This is another trip to throw in my winter bag of tricks. Not a real long trip. Fairly easy route and great summit views. Other than the brief open area just down from the summit, the return part of that loop doesn't really demand a return.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate NWHikers.net earns from qualifying purchases when you use our link(s).
