12/29, Sunday. I was picked up by a couple from Shoreline at I-5's Stewart exit (later dropped off at I-5 Madison exit -- so very convenient), and drove to Hex Mountain. Total 9 people. Our host met us at the trailhead. He has newly moved to Ellensburg after being dishearten by how bad Medicare patients are treated. The parking pull-out is south of the bridge over Newport Creek, left of Salmon La Sac Rd.
The winter route is half on a 4x4 road, half on a trail (you'll see this sign in the above photo where the trail starts to your right). The road can be easily walked with just boots, only sinking a little occasionally. I wore snowshoes on the way down, simply because I was too lazy to take them off and carry them. The trail can be walked on in boots too by a light person, except for the last 100' of the summit, which is rather steep. This day, we started under dark clouds, then into the clouds (very mystical, with beautiful frosted leaves). When we finally emerged from the clouds the last few hundred feet, we could see the blue sky. But the view is largely obscured by trees, even though the trail is more of less on a gentle ridge. 
The summit has great views of Mt Rainier to the south and Mt Stuart to the north, today, a sea of clouds below us. Had lunch here, but didn't linger long, due to the low temperature. Wind was mild, but made it chilly.Getting down through the clouds again. Could see Cle Elum Lake half way down the trail, dark and gloomy today. I took a wrong route, followed some road down. Didn't take any longer than the trail. Back to the car at 2pm. On the drive home, the clouds dissipated the west we went, all blue sky in Seattle.
About 7 miles RT, 2600' gain.
