Robinson Creek - Robinson MountainRecent Trip Reports
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Buckskin Ridge, Whistler (Slide Chute), Middle Fork Pasayten River, Ferguson Lake, Robinson Creek, Robinson Creek Cutoff to Slate Pass (#478A)
— Aug 08, 2011
— monist
Multi-night backpack
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Water on trail | Snow on trail | Bugs
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We intended to do this partial loop hike in a counter-clockwise direction, but some of our gang was charging ahead...
We intended to do this partial loop hike in a counter-clockwise direction, but some of our gang was charging ahead early and so we ended up going clockwise. This may have made the route-finding harder on the way back -- we're not sure we started from the right place on trail 478 to hop on to (unmaintained) trail 478A. Along trail 498 there is a cairn to mark where 478A starts as a faint trail. In any case, we lost the trail on the day out and had to bushwhack up slope to reconnect to the middle of 478A. That was the only time this trip that the mosquitoes really got me. Anyway, let's restart the narrative of our annual guys hiking trip. Grant, Morgan, Steve and I set off from the Slate Pass trailhead at around 3:30pm, packs heavy with wine, liquor, inflatable rubber boats, fishing rods and real food (well, one dehydrated dinner to motivate trout catching). We arrive at Ferguson Lake four hours later, just in time to catch some setting sun and then alpenglow, and just in time to miss mosquito hour -- although they weren't bad since the snow around the lake had only recently melted (late this year). We spent three nights and two whole days at the lake to allow for much fishing and some day hikes to the surrounding ridges and peaks (and maybe a little trundling). The weather was great, although 10 degrees colder on Wednesday, and we heard thunder but had no rain. Even at 6600' at the lake it got near seventy in the afternoon the other days. We'd heard that horse packers use this lake, but we saw no evidence of them from this season. There are two large campsites, NW on lake and N a little away. And some horseyish meadow to the W. I was the only one that put on DEET, with the others using headnets in the buggy hours or just dealing -- the bugs weren't bad, but I bet they can be. We caught enough trout for dinner one night, so we only had to eat one of our three dried meals along with minute rice and the fish. The fish went for flies, spinners and worms. Bring a lemon and some butter or oil and salt and a fry pan if you fish. The hike out was uneventful except for our loss of the trail as described above. All in all a great trip. Next time we'll try Fred's and Doris lakes and maybe make a bigger loop out to Buckskin lake and the ridge to come back (sounded a little snowy this time and we lost a night off our initial plans). And oh, I almost forgot, we saw deer, marmots, eagles fishing the lake, a large porcupine that climbed a tree, and a rattler on the drive down from the pass. Day hike
Issues:
Overgrown | Mud/Rockslide | Snow on trail | Bugs
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Flickr: http://bit.ly/robinson-mountain
Robinson Mountain brought me to Pasayten Wilderness for the very first time this summer. It was exploring an unknown...
Flickr: http://bit.ly/robinson-mountain
Robinson Mountain brought me to Pasayten Wilderness for the very first time this summer. It was exploring an unknown territory for the first time, and the drive through Washington Pass was simply breathtaking and beyond words. The farthest I have ever been on Highway 20 was Rainy Pass when we climbed Black Peak last October. If I remembered correctly, we were off to a late start and didn’t get on the trail until 10. The hike to Beauty Creek trail was scenic but seemed like forever. We ran into a couple of day hikers but they weren’t heading up to the mountain. Beauty Creek trail was steep alright, but the switchbacks made lessened the agony a great deal. After stopping for water by the waterfall, the black Lab did not follow us up the trail after he took his drink of water. Instead, he got confused and headed back down the mountain. Sniffing out tracks is not his forte so I’m sure he was completely lost and probably had an anxiety attack during the fiasco. Twenty minutes had gone by before I took out my emergency whistle and started blowing as we headed down the mountain. The yellow Lab set out to look for him, it took another 10 minutes before he followed the whistle sound and showed up panting aggressively. Getting to the basin was no problem with a little bit of scrambling. But getting from the basin to the southeast ridge was another story. Without the help with snow, can you say screeeeee! The dogs did okay on the slope, but I on the other hand, took a step forward and two steps back. The higher up I got, the less I moaned about the scree as it was beautiful all around. It took us a while to get to the summit after first getting on the ridge. I got deceived by the false summit and got excited too early. My GPS showed the true summit was still a half mile beyond, oh boy… The entire way was mostly class 3 scramble. There was one small gully just below the summit where the dogs needed my help to give them a little push to get up. The dogs ate their food half asleep while I took pictures. I loved the dryness and the nearly snow-free Pasayten Wilderness. Not sure how much daylight we had as we left the summit, but we got back down to the Robinson Creek trail just after sunset. While on the trail we ran into a deer that stood about 100 yards away and stared into the light from my head lamp. It nearly freaked me out as I couldn’t tell what it was at first. Yes, I get scared easily in the dark with too many horror flick scenes running through my head. The dogs are great company to have! This trip took us half a day, 12 hours altogether, but it was completely worth it. Four fours of driving back to Seattle, oh joy! Multi-night backpack
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Bridge out | Overgrown | Mudholes | Water on trail | Snow on trail | Bugs
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With lingering snow still covering most of Cascades we decided to head to the Pasayten for some snow free travel....
With lingering snow still covering most of Cascades we decided to head to the Pasayten for some snow free travel. For the most part we made a wise choice.
Tuesday we parked and hiked in the Andrews Creek trail off the Chewuch River Road. Thankfully it was cloudy and cool when we stared because this is a dusty horse trail. Nothing remarkable as we hiked through through the burn and up to Spanish Creek Camp. After Spanish Creek we jumped on the Boundary Trail and views and terrain were much improved. We encountred patches of snow but nothing that posed a problem. After dodging showers while walking on the ridge we descended to Ashanola Creek. We had put in about 23 miles since 9am we were happy to come upon a shelter before the river crossing. The small shelter had 4 rickety bunks that gave us a refuge from the on again off again showers. We slept like crap, but stayed dry, and rose to a clear chilly morning. Day 2 started climbing steadily to Pevee Pass and then up and over Bunker Hill. We had an awesome morning of hiking as we enjoyed the high country of the Boundary Trail under incresingy sunny skies. Again we skirted around patches of snow and crossed one decent snowfield, but it was nothing we couldn't follow. The trails were soggy. Our feet were rarely dry on this trip. Bunker Hill is a pretty long and slow climb. We enjoyed a quick lunch stop up top and discussed the likelihood that if we continued on the Bounday Trail we'd eventually face a sketchy crossing of the Pasayten River. We decided to follow unmaintained trail #456 and approach Tatoosh Buttes via Hidden Lakes. The descent was tough. It amounted to 4 miles of trying to pick up an overgrown trail through a burn over what seemed like hundreds of blow downs. My knees and legs are still knicked up. Finally we made it to the Hidden Lakes trail and hiked a what seemed like a long 2 miles. Hidden Lakes was hot and buggy. We missed trail #485 as we walked to the end of the lakes and then had to backtrack and find the trail. It was not signed and we trounced through waist high brush. Finally we were on a real trail again and we ascended to Tatoosh Buttes on the steady switchbacks. We hit a few decent snowfields as we topped out at 7100 ft. The views were awesome but a brisk chilly wind prevented us from staying. As dusk approached we descended through the burn down the Pasayten River. After a long day this seemed to take forever and was hard on tired legs. We finally made it to the creek where found the camp that no longer was and had do a really chilly creek crossing. It was getting dark and we briskly walked up trail #478 along the Paayten River looking for somewhere to camp. We found a spot flat enough to put down a tarp tent and a bivy. The bugs were present but tolerable and overall it was a good find given out predicament. We had hiked over 30+ rugged miles for the day. Rain/drizzle woke us up and we broke camp pretty quickly. We had a soggy start up this pretty level trail along the river. After a mile or two we started to see plenty of decent campsites. We passed two Outward Bound groups, the only other hikers we saw the whole trip. A pretty quick 13 miles got us to the junction between the the trail to Hart's Pass and the Robinson Creek trail. As much as we wanted to continue to the PCT we realized there was significantly more snow on the approaching ridges. We settled for Robinson Pass which was a sunny snow free destination. After a quick lunch we pushed on down the trail. This is a beautiful trail as it lowers from pass level into an impressive river gorge over 9 enjoyable miles. After 22 miles for the day we reached the Robinson Creek trailhead a long ways away from our car on the Chewuch. We walked down Harts Pass road thumbing later learning that we should have been "little-bitting" it to get a ride. After about 5 miles of road walking we caught a ride to the Mazama Store, just in time call a friend in Twisp to come get us and drive us to our car. I didn't want this hike to end and when it was time to leave I wanted to go back out and hike more of the Pasayten. For the most part it was snow free, a little wet, not too buggy, and pretty much was as spectacular as everybody says it is. We figure we hiked over 80 miles on this 3 day trek.
Robinson Creek
— Jun 26, 2011
— poundcakes
Day hike
Issues:
Blowdowns | Bridge out | Overgrown | Water on trail | Snow on trail
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Robinson creek is raging. The waterfall about 1.5 miles in roaring as well. Tread in decent condition but is brushy...
Robinson creek is raging. The waterfall about 1.5 miles in roaring as well. Tread in decent condition but is brushy from miles 2 to 6. Creek ford at 6 miles is easier than it looks but you will get wet up to your knees. Beyond 6 miles intermittent snow begins and the trail is a boggy, muddy mess where snow is not present. Snow is solid from 7 miles. Would estimate 6 weeks before the pass is snow free. Despite the numerous drawbacks this is a gorgeous hike with many surprises and a true sense of adventure.
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Water on trail
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This hike is called "Robinson Pass" in "100 Hikes in Washington's North Cascades National Park Region", by Ira Spring &...
This hike is called "Robinson Pass" in "100 Hikes in Washington's North Cascades National Park Region", by Ira Spring & Harvey Manning, Third Edition, Second Printing, 2003.
We scoped out this TH yesterday, after our "Lost River" hike (see "Monument Creek" trip report 05/29/11) and decided to do the first 4 miles, then turn around. The trail begins flat & wide and narrows quickly to trail size. Then it begins a steady ascent for the first .5 mile. Lots of wildflowers (arrowleaf balsamroot, indian paintbrush, and a purpley, yellow striated bell shaped one I can't name!), some water trickling down the trail early on, and a bridge under construction at 1 mile. Normally, the bridge would be a "no brainer". With our rambunctious Labrador Retriever needing knee surgery and not knowing his limits, I was nervous. The 3 un-planed logs were huge and required a big "step up" for me (5'7"). Scout couldn't figure out how to get up and he kept circling around and under. The creek was flowing full and fast and one slip on the logs would mean doggy overboard and I wasn't up for that. Bill (6'3" and intrepid) all but called me chicken**** and we turned back. (I wish I took a picture of the bridge and the creek flow under it.) So, 1 mile in and out, and then we drove on down the road to re-hike the West Fork of the Methow River Trail. Check out that trip report, which I will be writing up next. |
Beauty Creek as seen from the Robinson Creek trail, photo by the hike of the week club.
2010
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