Robinson Canyon - Ainsley CanyonThis is prime elk country and a major wintering and calving ground for the great wapiti (as elk are known to Native Americans in the region), which has led to the seasonal closure that keeps vehicles well away from the area during calving season. After mid-April see note above), when the closure order is lifted, you can find herds of the big beasts--especially groupings of elk cows with young calves. More than elk can be found here. Mule deer (some nearly as big as elk) also take advantage of the rich browse to get through the long winter months. The entire area is a diverse conglomeration of ecosystems: Thick forest characterizes the north slopes, while south-facing slopes are barren basalt cliffs and sage. Aspen trees and cottonwoods grace the creek basins and, in season, wildflowers fill all the lands between. It is also an area where rattlenakes are known to be present in large numbers in May when coming out of their dens. After going through the gate, follow the dirt two-track through the broad meadows. In about 0.3 mile, you'll find Robinson Creek as it bisects the meadows. All vehicle use of the primitive road ends at the creek crossing: Beyond this point, vehicles are prohibited. Just past Robinson Creek, a side track climbs out of the canyon to the right (Page Pasture Road). Stay on the main road and, about 1 mile from your vehicle, recross Robinson Creek in a nicely wooded area. In another 0.5 mile, reach a second road junction where Ainsley Canyon angles down from the south. Beaver dams can be found all along Robinson Creek, with new ones going up in new locations each year as old ones are washed out or damaged. Hiking up the road into Ainsley Canyon leads to stunning views in just 0.5 mile (2 miles from your vehicle) of steep basalt cliffs paralleling the creek far below. The thin forests of this area provides comforting shelter for deer and elk, so keep a close eye on the trees. Continue on another 0.5 mile or so in this open flat area, then head north off the road, cross Ainsley Creek, and scramble up to an incredible viewpoint looking across the canyon and over the Kittitas Valley. To extend your hike, return to the main road trail and continue left up the Robinson Canyon valley. At mile 4 (from your vehicle), the road leaves the bank of Robinson Creek and the best scenery is now behind you. A loop is possible here, but it is a long hike and not recommended. Instead, turn around for a leg-stretching outing of 10 miles with the 1-mile side trip up Ainsley Canyon.
Driving Directions:
From Seattle, drive east on Interstate 90 to exit 101 for Thorp. At the end of the exit ramp, turn right. Drive about 0.75 mile before turning right on Killmoor Road (where main road veers to the left). Drive Killmoor Road 2.5 miles, then turn right on Robinson Canyon Road (pavement gives way to gravel in 0.5 mile) and drive 1.5 miles to reach the trailhead parking area at the elk fence gate. Park outside the gate and hike in (closing the gate behind you). Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife permit required. Recent Trip Reports
Hiked here recently?
Submit a trip report!
There are
8
trip reports for this hike.
See all trip reports for this hike.
Day hike
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
We had heard about the LT Murray Recreation Area as a great spring hike but had never been there. ...
We had heard about the LT Murray Recreation Area as a great spring hike but had never been there. We were a little apprehensive after reading Whitebark's report from May of this year. He suggested taking the road along the south slope from the parking area as a nice hike. That sounded great for us - walking up through open forest, wild flowers, and lush meadows. After about 3 miles and 1100' gain we reached a wide open area. Let's call it Tar Paper Flats - I have no clue if that is the real name or not. We checked out some of the area in the "flats" and then continued on our clockwise loop trip. Using maps and GPS we elected for a shorter loop trip descending Ainsley Canyon connecting to Robinson Canyon and returning to the car.
We were feeling quite smug about taking a short cut and missing all of the trail wash out issues in Robinson Canyon described by Whitebark. We assumed all of those problems were upstream from where we entered Robinson Canyon. After a short ways, it became painfully obvious that we were going to get to sort out the washout issues. I am sure that a month ago, the creek was much more of an issue than today so we elected to climb in and out of the creek bed; brush bash along the edge of the creek; and periodically rock hop in the creek bed. Getting in and out of the creek bed became problematic for me. These country song lyrics came to me: "I am not as good as I once was, but I am as good once as I ever was." To get out of the creek bed required a chest-high mantle move. All I could do was get a knee up on the bank and use a vegetable belay to pull myself up. At least I did not have to do the "beached whale" move where I flop onto the bank and squirm my way forward. In spite of this short bad section of trail, the entire loop trip was well worth the effort and highly recommended. Our shorter loop trip was about 10 miles and 1200 to 1400 gain. Longer loop trips are possible adding another 2 to 4 miles. Day hike
Issues:
Washouts
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
The trail up Robinson Canyon is indeed in poor condition, as other trip reports have suggested. We managed to get...
The trail up Robinson Canyon is indeed in poor condition, as other trip reports have suggested. We managed to get past the washout, but the route is arduous. Much of the way you have to scramble through or around the deep trench that the creek carved out of the old roadbed. Cliffs and brush greatly hinder possible bypass routes away from the creek. At one point, the best route is to scramble up a talus slope (complete with pissed off rattlensnakes), over the top of a lava bluff 50 feet above the creek, and back down a cliff.
Well, I hope that a bypass trail is built someday. The logical route is to run the trail on the relatively gentle south slope of the canyon, perhaps 100 vertical feet or more above the creek. Hey WTA, have I got a job for you! The rest of the green and glorious L.T. Murray Wildlife Recreation Area is easy to wander about. The road that climbs the south slope of the canyon just past the main elk fence gate is a fine choice for hikers. It is closed to motorized traffic (until July 15) and currently quiet. As the road climbs, the views get better and better - lava cliffs, the Ellensberg valley, and the snow-capped Stuart Range. It's a bit early for the flowers here, but we saw lupine, balsam root, and many others. The road eventually tops out on a vast meadowy plateau with a vista of Manastash Ridge. Using my GPS unit as a guide, we wandered for miles around the network of roads, not seeing anyone else at all. The free 7.5 minute topo map from GPS File Depot loaded onto my Garmin unit was helpful, although the road data has numerous inaccuracies. Eventually, we looped back to to the trailhead via Ainsley and Robinson Canyon, where we had quite an adventure as noted above. Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Washouts | Bugs
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
I met my brother in Ellensburg (me from Everett, him from Spokane)for a dayhike trying to get some warmer temps....
I met my brother in Ellensburg (me from Everett, him from Spokane)for a dayhike trying to get some warmer temps. We drove out of Ellensburg in light rain Saturday morning about 9:30 am. Found the road to Robinson/Ainsley Canyon and proceeded to the trailhead. The road turns to gravel shortly before the parking area/elk gate, it had been scraped but there were some rocks sticking up that we dragged on pretty hard in the old Buick. Recommend a truck or higher clearance car. Parked at the elk gate, let ourselves in and walked a bit up the road where there is a clearing. Several campers parked there with trailers/campers and horse set ups. Walked up the canyon to where the tread becomes a little more unforgiving. Saw a dead drowned snake caught in a forked stick in the creek. No other snakes seen though. Returned to the camp area and walked up the ridge to where we could see the valley below. Very nice and clear. The mountains were socked in but you could see Ellensburg quite clearly and the wind mills. Walked back up the ridge on a decent road into the woods about 3-4 miles. Lots of elk droppings but no elk seen. Did see multiple types of birds, a mouse, and quite a few ticks. Some on us. We had on heavy layer of DEET on our shoes, socks and up to our knees which we re applied at least once. Didn't stop the ticks from crawling up us though. Had to do a tick check every so often! We were not walking in the grass either-just on the road so we were picking them up easily somehow. The sun came out partway through and got some good rays on the way back down. About 70F and partly sunny-no rain=perfect hiking weather. Got some good pics. Quite a few different varieties of flowers but not too many of any kind out yet? Thought there would be more but nice anyway. Returned to car about 3:30 pm and only 3 other cars parked at the gate. Saw one dirt biker when we up in there and no other hikers. Definitely recommend as it is not too far outside town. Recommend now heavy tick repellent and other precautions. Stay out of the grass as well as there are more in there. Check yourself well at times and don't forget to check your crevices in the shower when you get back as they like the intertiginous areas. Drove back Sunday to Everett with heavy rain all the way. Also watch road construction on the pass, westbound it was backed up for MILES and took me 1 hr15 min from Roslyn to top of pass. Yikes. Happy hiking!
Robinson Canyon - Ainsley Canyon
— May 06, 2011
— Eats Rocks and Dirt
Day hike
Issues:
Blowdowns | Washouts | Water on trail
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
We went to check out Robinson Canyon. About .2 miles in Robinson Creek has taken over the trail. ...
We went to check out Robinson Canyon. About .2 miles in Robinson Creek has taken over the trail. The creek is running right down what used to be the trail making it virtually inaccessible. We went a short ways by crossing the creek and going down the edges, but it is very brushy and difficult to get by in places. We reached a point where we needed to cross the creek again and decided to turn around. It is no longer the beautiful hike it used to be. Don't go there.
Robinson Canyon - Ainsley Canyon
— May 05, 2011
— Dennis D
Day hike
Issues:
Blowdowns | Overgrown | Washouts | Snow on trail
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
I felt compelled to submit a trip report after reading a report of Robinson Canyon from a day later and...
I felt compelled to submit a trip report after reading a report of Robinson Canyon from a day later and offer a slightly different perspective.
A group of 3 of us camped out Wednesday night inside the wildlife gate (with permit displayed) in the large field a couple hundred feet inside the refuge. All in all a very nice spot for camping although previous groups have made several fire pits throughout the field and had left a few pieces of trash. We packed up and left the campsite around 10am and would not anyone until returning to our car around 530 pm. The WTA description for these hikes is a bit vague. With numerous paths and old roads shooting off throughout the hike...a sense of adventure and patience is needed. We did not look at the Best Desert Hikes book...perhaps that would of been more helpful. We did encounter snow at times on trail, and pockets of old barb-wire off trail. No bugs. The 1.5 mile hike up the canyon was one the most scenic parts of the hike...with impressive rock outcroppings especially on the north side. As the previous poster mentioned, the creek has decided to do away with sections of the trail...maybe up to 1/2 mile's worth? This slowed us quite a bit on the way in but probably only added an extra 20 minutes or so on the way back. We followed the old river bed when possible, but we were forced to cross the stream back and forth quite a few times. Lots of brush and deadfall, but it is passable. We ran into a rattlesnake within 5 minutes of our hike on the way up and saw another dead one caught on a rock in the stream, but with the temperatures still on the cool side that was the extent of our rattlesnake experience. The junction between the 2 canyons was pretty easy to confirm despite the lack of signage. We decided to try Robinson canyon first. Post trip, I re-read a TR from May 2009 and realized that we had come up the wrong side of Robinson. When we really started to climb up Robinson, we had taken an old road past 2 settlements, climbers left of the river (as shown in the May 2009 TR). At that point we should have been to the right of the river. The road past the cabins climbed into sparse forest passing a few junctions. Eventually it became difficult to follow and we decided to hike a bit up the south canyon (north facing) hillside to get a better view. We didn't go all the way to the top of ridge...but the views were nice looking back toward the Kittias Valley. We went back to the main junction and then preceded up Ainsley Canyon. The first 1/2 mile does have the best scenery as described in the WTA write-up. We followed the old road probably for almost 2 miles, continuously fooled that we would hit the high point and scramble up either side of the ridge, only to have the road flatten and inch up in elevation. Eventually we scrambled up the north facing slopes of the canyon (write-up suggests south facing slopes only 1/2 mile in) to another road, and again took in the views. We encountered much more snow in Ainsley Canyon than Robinson - with snow two or more feet deep in sections of the road. My suggestions, do more planning than we did, prepare for the first part of the trail to be a challenge, and wait a few weeks for wildflowers to begin to bloom. |
Arrowleaf balsamroot on the Robinson Canyon trail. Photo by Andrea Nesbitt.
Map it
|
Information about this hike provided in partnership with
Document Actions
- Email this page
- Print this
- Share
Forgot your
New user?
