
Trip Report
Hex Mountain (winter)
Attempt for Hex Mountain without trespassing. Encountered challenging terrain and snow conditions plus being short on time resulted in turnaround at 3900ft.
- Mon, Jan 13, 2025
- Hex Mountain (winter)
- Snowshoeing
- Turned Around
-
- Road suitable for all vehicles
I'm only writing this up to provide a bit of beta given the changed access constraints for the popular winter route. The regular trailhead is no longer accessible since the forest road is now marked as a private one (called Newport Creek Drive) and has a gate with a "no trespassing sign".
There is no easy way to bypass the private property on the north side of Newport Creek. Thus our goal was to start from the fire station (south of the creek), traverse a bit east, cross the creek once the north side is on public land and then find the trail again.
While the terrain map doesn't suggest complexity, the reality is different. Newport Creek is surrounded by fairly steep terrain and the occasional cliff and at the lower elevations where we wanted to cross there was no way to get down there in snow conditions (especially not while wearing snowshoes). We then decided to traverse to a forest road further east and try our luck further upstream. It was hard work due to poor snow conditions (very crusty surface that easily broke revealing dusty snow below; conditions would only improve around 3600ft elevation).
There are two spots on the map that look inviting for a crossing:
1. at 2600ft where the forest road gets very close to the creek and makes a switchback
2. at 3000ft where Opentopo map shows a "trail" cross the creek
Option #1 seemed reasonable but we continued further up thinking that #2 might be easier given that the map indicated a trail. Wrong decision. I have no idea if there is a trail in summer. In current conditions there's no way too cross, too steep / cliffy.
We continued further uphill until meeting up with the Sasse Mountain Trail which had some snowmobile track and called it a day at ~3900ft. Downhill we followed the snowmobile track which was much much easier going.
If doing this I think that it would make sense to either cross at option #1 or simply commit to ascending the peak from the SE side via forest roads / cross-country. Regardless starting from FS 4305 would be more advisable to avoid the extra workout at the beginning.