Robinson Canyon - Ainsley Canyon — Wednesday, Jun. 6, 2012

Central Washington > Yakima

Robinson-Ainsley Canyon is a fun, easy hike with lots of flowers, a cabin, and even a loop route. It gains only 1000 feet over 10 miles and with the shade of the trees and a little canyon breeze, it is a great hike spring, summer, and fall. There are lots of trail spurs, abandoned roads, and game trails so here is the route for a nice loop hike. The trailhead is a fenced dirt road with a few informational signs. Be sure to fasten the gate after you pass through. The first part of the trail is a roadbed which passes over Robinson Creek on a culvert. At the roadblock formed by large boulders it is possible to go up the road to the right to hike along the top of the basalt ridge. To the left another road goes off somewhere. The Robinson Canyon trail is straight ahead through the roadblock. In a half mile the trail leaves the roadbed and recrosses Robinson Creek. A few steps beyond is a junction. Left skirts the contours and eventually ends up at the "somewhere road" I think. Right continues up the canyon. Note the basalt ramparts on the ridgeline across the canyon. At the next junction, left goes up Ainsley Canyon and right continues up Robinson Canyon. We went left. Ainsley Canyon is little more than a woodsy wrinkle in the landscape. The trail is a bit overgrown. At the next junction we turned right and went up a gentle trail that took us over the crown of the ridgeline to a watering hole set in among the pines. Big, expansive views, many flowers and sage, and mesquite brush full of tent caterpillars. Continue around the watering hole to a beautiful large meadow of grass that waves in the breeze like water. There is a stone cabin there on the opposite side of the meadow which in former days was the center of a hog farm. We met a Fish & Wildlife biologist out there who explained that all the blue markings on the trees indicate the ones that would be spared when the logging company clearcut the rest. Timber prices fell and the logging didn't happen so there are lots of blue trees (girls have to make up their own pink trees). The biologist was spreading live beetles in the meadow to combat a certain noxious weed. From the cabin go north to find a roadbed that goes back over the ridge and down in to Robinson Canyon. There is a side trail off this road that is easy to see that rejoins the Robinson trail. It is a pleasant walk back to the car from there. Lupine abound but there are many other flowers as well, including paintbrush, yarrow, sweetpea, daisies, and even wild iris.