We had a whole week off to spend time in the mountains, and couldn't have asked for better weather or more incredible scenery. Just don't be like us and hike up to Tuck Lake in the middle of a hot summer day. We knew the trail would be a tough climb, but the heat made it very taxing for us. There is a stream crossing between the climb up from Hyas Lake and the turn off to Tuck and Robin Lakes, and shortly after the turn off as well. Take advantage of this and filter water; we were glad to have plenty of water while hiking in the heat of the day.
We arrived to a very full Tuck Lake at 5pm on a beautiful Sunday. Somehow we got lucky and found a nice campsite above the lake. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of viable campsites, and there were tents crammed in to every flat and not-so-flat patch of dirt or granite. Tuck Lake was cold(to me) but great for swimming after a hot afternoon of hiking.
As others have mentioned, navigating around Tuck Lake to get to the Robin Lakes trail is no easy task. We used our Gaia app and took the trail that takes you up and away from Tuck Lake before dropping back down to the log jam at the outlet stream. Once we crossed the log jam and started up the trail to Robin Lakes, we found we rarely needed to reference our navigation app. Cairns are placed frequently along the trail(if you can call it that) and were incredibly helpful. Just keep your eyes out for them and you'll make it up. Some of the big boulders were tricky to get up and over with an overnight pack, but we much preferred this section compared to the trail up to Tuck, which had a lot of loose rocks and dirt. The granite on the Robin Lakes trail provides great traction, and the views really open up as you climb above Tuck Lake. A few spots were tricky on the way down, but overall going back down was not near as bad as we anticipated.
Upper and Lower Robin Lakes are absolutely stunning, and incredibly clear and blue. Also very cold, but worth a swim! We spent a couple nights at Robin Lakes and explored the trails up to Granite Mountain Potholes and Trico Mountain, as well as Granite Mountain. The entire area is so beautiful and both are worthy side trips in my opinion. I think I took a million photos. Wildflowers seem to be done for the season, but so do the mosquitos, thank goodness.
Overall it was an incredible trip and we will definitely be back, although I don't think we will return unless we can go midweek again. The trail was very busy on Sunday when we arrived, and even Monday and Tuesday felt busy for weekdays, although I suspect this was mostly due to the nice summer weather and the Perseid Meteor Shower.
Both Tuck and Robin Lakes are beautiful, fragile alpine environments that deserve our care and respect. Following Leave No Trace principles is imperative, and this includes packing out your TP. I've found dog poop bags are super helpful for this. I use them to collect my TP and then double bag them in a Ziploc bag. It might not be the funnest part of backpacking, but it's a small inconvenience that goes a long way to preserving the stunning alpine regions we all love. (Thank you for listening to my TED talk.)
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