Tuck and Robin Lakes — Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025

A gorgeous overnight destination to Robin Lakes with ripe berries, swimming, and some serious effort put in. If you lost a small digital camera at Robin Lakes, we found it and brought it home. Message me!

The road: Fantastic dusty gravel. Some washboarding, one quick part with water over the road, but no potholes. Camry had no problems.

Parking lot: At Tucquala Meadows trailhead there are probably 100 spots in a couple spread out lots. When we arrived at 9:15am on Saturday the lots were already full and parking had stretched 0.25 miles down the forest road. Standard bathroom was at the trailhead. 

Trail: A trail of many parts.

• Miles 1-3: The first 3 miles are pretty much flat - great condition trail through the forest, with ripe berries on both sides. You wonder when all the elevation will start.
• Mile 4: 800 ft gain over a mile to the Marmot/Jade Lakes junction. Trail still in great condition, the work starts.
• Mile 5: 1200 ft gain over a mile to Tuck Lake. My least favorite section of trail - dusty, loose rocks and roots through forest switchbacks. Even less fun climbing down. Very obvious trail. However long the first 4 miles took you, expect this mile and the next to take you just as long.  
• Mile 6: 1200 ft gain over a mile to Robin Lakes. Less obvious trail but way more fun terrain - lots of granite slabs and the views become expansive. If you want to be most efficient:
  • Have offline maps.
  • Follow the cairns. They are plentiful. When you think you see a more clever way that goes against the cairns, don't give in to the temptation. Follow the cairns for lower effort dirt paths. 
  • There seems to be two routes coming up from Tuck Lake. We took the left one and so did most people we talked to. When you get to Tuck Lake, keep following the trail and stay left around Tuck Pot. Drop down to the logjam between Tuck Pot and Tuck Lake (finding the logjam actually wasn't obvious - there aren't cairns at this point. Use map to be efficient or just wander until you get there), then ascend the obvious ridge, which will take you around the left side of the high point. If you go right around Tuck Pot you end up going up the gully and around the right side of the high point.  
  • Many trails will get you up the ridge, as long as you keep heading up and are comfortable with class 3 scrambling. But if you want to avoid scrambling, follow the cairns. 
  • The ridge section is a mix of dirt trails weaving in between boulders, some big steps onto boulders. Even following the cairns, there is some class 2. Views are great and you can see down to Tuck Lake and the peaks across the valley.
  • After you make it around the big hill, the terrain changes to big grippy granite slabs and expansive views. As long as you keep heading up the slabs in the direction of Robin Lakes you'll make it there, but the cairns once again are very nice. 

Campsites: Though there were probably ~30 tents at Robin Lakes on Saturday night, the basin is big enough that it didn't feel crowded. We arrived at 5:30pm and still got a great spot overlooking the lower lake. When you crest the final ridge you can immediately see campsite options, but many spots are hidden and require exploring the basin. There were many parties camped on the peninsula that jutted out from the far side of the cirque (go right around the lower lake to get there); those sites had great water access but less privacy and more crowds. There were also parties up on the ridge that separated the two lakes (go left when you crest the final ridge during the approach). Not many parties camped at the upper Robin Lake (go left) so that's a good bet for more quiet. A few tents on the right side of the lower lake, which had a great view down into the valley. We camped with two 1p tents on a granite hill overlooking the lower lake, pretty much immediately in front as you crest the final ridge during the approach. TIP #1: bring paracord - there are lot of flat spots on the plentiful granite slabs that make great tent spots as long as you have cord to tie your tent to rocks. Tent spots with actual dirt for staking were hard to come by. TIP #2: as you stand above the lakes scoping out a spot, look for circles of small rocks - this is where people previously pitched tents on granite and tied to those rocks. TIP #3: it will be easier to find sites for multiple smaller tents than one bigger tent.

Leave no trace: No backcountry toilet and not much diggable dirt for catholes, so bring blue bags and plan to pack everything out.

Wildlife: We heard pika and marmots all evening and morning at the lake but never saw them. Plenty of chipmunks.

Bugs: A couple flying around but quite good for a summer lake destination!