Myself and AC7MA set off to activate Hex Mountain (1534m, 6 Points + 3 winter bonus) this past Tuesday (20th March). Here is a short video I made at the summit:
https://youtu.be/wEc5C1NV1F0
It was a beautiful sunny day and we had the mountain to ourselves. Snow conditions were great - we were on snow the entire hike but did not need snowshoes. It was about as perfect as an early spring activation could possibly be! Compared to our last activation (Sky Mountain) this was a walk in the park.
Total hike was a little over 7 miles and 2800’ elevation gain. It took 2.5 hrs to summit, 1.5 hrs to get back down.
Between us we made 26 contacts, all 20m CW.
WTA trip reports mention parking at a turn-out near the fire station (just before Newport Creek) about 1/4 mile before the forest service road. We were able to park near the gate on the forest service road, as we were the only car there. The hike starts at the gated forest service road. Make sure to take a map / GPS as there are a few turns you have to take - it would be easy to get off course.
After about 1.7 miles walking on the forest service road, you will come to the trailhead (marked by a numbered wooden sign that says "Hex MTN TR"). Keep an eye out for it, the scenery is very distracting and we walked right on past it =)
At the Hex Mountain sign you leave the road for the trail, which follows a ridge on up. Damage from the forest fire was clearly evident all around. The final push to the summit is very steep, but short. Views from the exposed summit were fantastic. We had no trouble putting up a 20m inverted V dipole using a 20' pole for the center, and my hiking poles for the ends (all just pushed into the very firm snow - no guying required).
Highly recommended for a winter SOTA activation!
