Nature's Playgrounds: Tuck & Robin Lakes with a side of Trico & Granite

I've had my sights on these lakes for quite a while now. I considered doing this as a day hike, but luckily Sarah pointed out that if you make it up to these lakes you really should also hit Granite and Trico mountain. She was definitely right! So our hiking foursome decided to make a weekend out of it.

We headed out on the fairly long drive to the trailhead on Friday after work. We got there right around dark and set up our tents in a spot just outside the parking lot. I think this was an area commonly used for horses because we woke up the next morning realizing we had set up our tents in a field of dried horse crap. Oops.

We were on the trail nice and early Saturday morning. The first few miles is mostly flat along Tucquala Meadows and Hyak Lake. We were treated to a few views of Cathedral Rock and surrounding peaks. We then began to climb up the switch backs towards deception pass and then turned off onto the Tuck and Robin Lakes trail. Several trip reports I read made this trail sound pretty hairy, but we found it pretty easy going up to Tuck Lake. It's steep mind you, but has switchbacks and is pretty descent terrain.

First views of the mountains

Daniels makes an appearance

We made it to Tuck Lake for lunch. There were several groups camped along the shores. Tuck is a nice lake and does have some good views of Daniels away from the shore, but really it's nothing special compared to what lied ahead. We traversed around the right side of the lake navigating lots of different social trails until we were at a little gully heading up. The gully ended in a flat area that eventually opened up into a rocky landscape with views down to Hyas Lake. From here we continued up through a mix of scree, boulders, and trail., ending with a walk up a big granite slab. I thought this section of the trail was actually a lot of fun (although steep) because the terrain varied a lot and there were great views.

Island on Tuck Lake

Tuck Lake

Stormy Daniels

Baby Marmot

Views along the way to Robin Lakes

The final section of the climb

We then entered the Robin Lakes basin. It was beautiful. There was some weather developing to the west so we decided to set up camp quickly in case of a storm. We found a great spot on the ridge between the two lakes that had phenomenal views of Daniels and Cathedral over Lower Robin. We had the basin mostly to ourselves with the exception of one couple camped in a group of trees. The dark clouds produced no rain, but did put on quite a show of shadows over the peaks. After some relaxation we decided to head over to Trico.

Daniels and Lower Robin from our campsite

Can't get enough of this mountain

Cathedral Rock & Bear's Breast

Derrick gives it the thumbs up

Upper Robin Lake

Upper Robin Panorama

Trico is an easy walk along the ridge to the northwest. We were treated to great views of the Granite Mountain Potholes (mostly below us). Each lake was stunning and offered a slightly different perspective on the rocky landscape. Not really much climbing involved to get to this peak despite its dramatic cliffs on the east side. We were a little unsure which of the high points was the actual summit so we visited them all. The clouds were rolling in but never completely obscured the views.

Trico

Subalpine Fir

Cliffs on Trico

Bering in the clouds

Clouds over Daniels

Derrick and Sam on Trico

Looking down at Phoebe Lake

Trico summit looking towards Granite

Cloud vs Mountain

One of the Potholes

Trico and Pothole

Marmot overlooks his kingdom

Closer view of marmot

More potholes

Back at camp we were surprised to see that a small army of tents had moved into the flat area between the two lakes not too far from our tucked away campsite. It looked like a large father daughter group of some sorts. I think a lot of people settle on this spot because it is the most obvious campsite. However, there are a lot of more private campsites all over the area if you look for them. Even with our new neighbors there were still more goats in the area than humans. We counted around 20 or more. They weren't exactly shy, but were far from being aggressive.

Goat over Robin

We decided to hold off on Granite until the morning since we had already put in quite a lot of elevation for one day. Plus it was time for dinner. As the evening set in, the sky cleared a bit and we enjoyed watching the sunset cast a glow on the alpine area around us. It is a truly beautiful place.

The sunset begins

Cloud reflection

Great clouds

Alpine glow

This is the life!

Watching the show

Granite (not actual summit)

Pretty perfect

Tent army (I think there were a few more out of view)

Evening settles in

The next morning we were up early and went for a quick climb up Granite. You basically follow the ridge from between the lakes up, head east to cross a snowfield in the saddle and then it's a straight shot to Granite. We realized what you see from down at the lakes is not the actual summit, real one is a bit behind. It was a clear day and we had outstanding views in all directions. So many peaks and lakes. I would have loved to piece together a traverse on some of the ridges, but alas we had to return to the city. The trip down was uneventful, again we saw lots of people at Tuck Lake. Once at the car it was time for an early dinner at the Roslyn Brewery and quick stop for jerky for next weekends adventure. Another great trip!