Drove over from Seattle area on a Saturday morning. Had been wanting to do this hike, partly based upon the description in the "Best Desert Hikes Washington" book, which I found to be partially true and partially misleading.
I found my Gaia GPS and USGS map printed from the Caltopo website to be extremely helpful, as I don't think this trail has really been maintained for a while, plus there are a number of different roads and trails branching off, so it can get confusing.
Approximately 1 mile in, the trail crossed Robinson Creek to the south side, then ascended a couple hundred feet. My map and GPS showed the trail continuing along the north side, but I'm wondering if the trail was rerouted at some point. The trail eventually entered a logging area where 3 mule deer crossed my path, then eventually came to the junction with the Ainsley Canyon trail, which I took for almost a mile-and-a-half. At that point, I headed straight up the hill to the right, gaining about 300 feet, and once at the top, walked about a half mile east-northeast where a view looking down into Robinson Canyon and toward Mt Stuart/the Enchantment Peaks was. I traced my route back down through Ainsley Canyon to where some orange tape marked the junction where the Robinson Creek trail was. I continued up Robinson Creek a short distance, where the trail begin ascending again away from the creek. I could see on my GPS that this wasn't the creek trail, so I went back down and found an unobvious trail marker where the Robinson Creek "trail" continued. I'm guessing the trail I was on continues up to the ridge above the canyon. In places along Robinson Creek it's a true trail and in many others it's simply a route, perhaps being an old road bed. I followed this up a couple miles through some brushy sections, then decided to head back. There was lots of lupine in bloom, along with other wildflowers.
On the way back, at the junction where the trail goes up Ainsley Canyon, there was more orange tape which marked what appeared to be the route heading down (east) along Robinson Creek which I thought I had missed when I crossed the creek earlier. I followed this for about a half mile without any probem, then found myself walking in the creek itself at times, until the "trail" disappeared and I had no way of beating through the brush. At this point, I decided to climb the steep embankment back up to the trail I had been on earlier in the day, which I took back to the trailhead. I'd suggest instead using the route that goes above the south side of the creek.
It ended up being a day where I did more routefinding and bushwhacking than expected, but still had a good time. My ankles and legs ended up getting pretty scratched up, so you might consider long pants, although it was a pretty hot day. This is a great area to view wildlife, and the vegetation and surrounding scenery is still very nice.
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