I'd been eyeing Robinson for years as a fun day-trip Bulger but had never gotten around to it. That would change in September 2022.
After a good nights sleep in the back of the car at Ballard "campground" (really just a nice dispersed camping zone as far as I could tell), Katie and I hit the Robinson Creek Trail at 6:30 am. I always enjoy getting out into the Pasayten, and this trip was no exception. Excitement grew as we travelled along the nice trail until we hit Beauty Creek.
We crossed a sturdy bridge and proceeded to walk right past the turn off up Beauty Creek. The trail is easy to miss if you aren't looking for it! Thankfully I was able to quickly recognize our mistake and it wasn't long before we were heading steeply uphill into the Beauty Creek valley. This trail is STEEP for a bit as it gains 800 or so quick feet before levelling slightly off as it dives deeper into the valley. Despite being an easily-missed, unmaintained trail, it was surprisingly pleasant travel with few blow downs.
Eventually we came to the point where where a climbers path diverges from the main trail and heads steeply up through grassy meadows toward Robinson and the tarn basin below it. Here the tread is light and braided in places, but it is obvious where you want to go - straight up! This section follows a similar profile to the Beauty Creek trail, super steep at first before levelling off gradually as it approaches the tarn. I had been excited about this tarn for a while because of its beautiful blue color and larches and it did not dissapoint.
It was very early in the larch season, but a few were beginning to turn, and the color of the water was the deep blue-green I had hoped for.
Katie was more than content to chill here and read and paint while I went up and tagged Robinson.
I really had no idea how long Robinson would take me, so I gave Katie a cautious estimate of 4 hours RT from the tarn. I had heard that in late season, gaining the ridge above the tarn was a heinous 600 foot tall scree treadmill, so I was unsure how that would go. As it turned out, the bottom section was a piece of cake, as many pairs of feet before me had carved out a nice switchbacking path that I was able to walk on with minimal sliding. The upper half was a slightly different story as the footing switched to smaller rocks and kitty litter on more of a harpan surface. It wasn't too much fun, but with care and a nose for some of the more solid rock on the ride side I was able to make it up much faster than I had anticipated.
The rest of the climb was a super fun ridge traverse, with a bit of class 2-3 thrown in leading up to the Southeast peak of Robinson. Once I hit the southeast peak, the true summit was still a ways off, but I was feeling energized and even did some running on the broad, open ridge. Moving quickly like this on high mountain ridges is probably when I feel the most alive.
I encountered one section of class 3 with a bit of exposure directly before the summit. I found it to be fun and feel very safe and secure. From there it was just a short class 2 walk to the summit! The views did not dissapoint, although distant views were a bit limited by neardby wildfire smoke choking the Cascades. Miraculously the sky was pure blue above me on the summit. I spent some time taking in the views and was surprised to see that it had only taken me slightly over an hour to get to the top from the tarn.
The way down was fun and uneventful, involving a bit more ridge running and much scree surfing back down to the tarn. The hardpan section at the top isn't too bad ifyou take it slow and do a modified plunge step into the scree. I made it back to the tarn in a much faster than expected 2 hours RT. This allowed for a long break at the tarn! Katie spent some time painting the beautiful scene before us and I laid down on a flat spot by the water and napped. I even had a big curious butterfly land on my knee and stay a while.
Some more photos of the tarn just because I love it so much:
Because we still had to hike all the way out, we eventually packed up and started the trip out reluctantly. All went smoothly, and in the last 5 minutes before the trailhead we could see a big wall of brown smoke threatening to engulf the Methow valley. The AQI was degrading rapidly and we were thankful to get back in the car, content with the beautiful, crystal clear day we had.
Final Stats: 13.91 miles, 6,066 feet of gain, 10 hours 38 minutes RT with a long leisurely break at the tarn
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