I'd also say that in a hex-crawly type situation, it's not your job to create the encounters and tailor them. It's your job to run the world, let the players have a reasonable idea of what they might encounter, and make their own decisions about what seems like a good thing to tackle or not.

If they know the ogre mountains are to the north and the kobold forest is to the south, and have a rough idea of what might be there (yay random monster tables tailored to the environment), then they can choose to take the easy way or the hard way, and when they want to head back to safety. Take that job out of your hands entirely.

If they want the Ogre Mountains, they can go there. Their problem, not yours. If they wanna wimp out with the Kobold Forest, also not your problem.