Robin Lakes
Path Finding and My Body as Machine
July 1977

My second summer saw me in really good shape.  I was young and fit,  Because I had no car I walked a great deal and thought nothing of it.  When I went into the mountains I would hitchhike.  At the time it was reasonably safe to hitch short distances into the mountains and I did this frequently. 

I saw in the guide book an interesting hike in the central Alpine Lakes Wilderness.  The only problem was that it was on the other side of Snoqualmie Pass and then up 35 miles of Forest Service roads.  Snoqualmie pass, on I-90, presented a problem.  Hitching on the Interstate was strictly forbidden.  However there was, at the time, a place in Seattle where the interstate traffic traveled on a city street.  This was my only spot where I could hope to get a ride, and I had to get one to my destination or beyond. 

I decided to try for it in spite of the difficulty of reaching the trail head.  I left Seattle in the afternoon on a Friday and got a ride over the pass and into Roslyn Washington.  Roslyn is a quaint little town 20 miles East of the pass. It later became famous as the set for the TV program Northern Exposure.  I then get a series of short rides and made it to the trail head before 11 PM that night.  I found later I actually made better time than some who drove the same route.  While walking between rides that night I was treated to a display of the Milky Way unlike any other that I ever had seen because of the clarity of the sky coupled to that extreme darkness of the wilderness. 

The next morning I traveled around Hyas Lake and up to Deception Pass on the Cascade Crest Trail.  The route I was to follow from this point was not officially a trail.  I was able to find the blaze and the tread that marked my route, and I climbed up the ridge to a nice looking lake named Tucks Lake.  This was my lunch spot.  As I ate my lunch some hikers came by and decried the shamelessness of a couple across the lake from us who were skinny dipping and greatly enjoying the water.  I held my tongue, and a short while later joined the couple.  After the break we dressed and resumed our journey to Robin Lakes.  The route from Tuck Lake to Robin Lakes was completely void of even a tread, but the route was easy to follow up over the rocky ridge.  About an hour later we were there.  The lakes are different from any other that I had ever seen.  They are frozen for all but a few weeks of the year and because of the extreme clarity of the water the sky reflects off the white granite at the bottom causing the lakes to appear “Robin Egg” blue.  Needless to say the water was COLD!  We still spent the afternoon lounging in the sun warming ourselves in the sun and swimming periodically to cool off.  The greatest surprise however was the view south across the valley to Mt. Daniel.  Mt Daniel is the tallest peak in King County and is over 7000’ tall with a large accompaniment of glaciers.  Waterfalls lace its shoulders from the ice fields adding to the beauty.  Beyond Mt. Daniels, Mt. Rainier asserted its presence, and Mt. Adams could be seen behind The Mountain.  This vista was among the best that I had seen in the Cascades to that date.

I had nagging concerns about the trip home and the next morning I decided to take a different, longer, route out.  I made my way back to Deception Pass then turned north to follow Deception Creek towards Highway 2, a much easier road to hitch on.  This route traded more walking for an easier ride home.  The walk took all day and was not very difficult except for parts of the trail that hade not been maintained.  I pounded out the miles rapidly, filled with joy from movement and exercise.  I felt as though I was a machine with all parts running smoothly and my only purpose was to move, down the valley floor to the end.  The hiking itself was the joy and not the means to an end, the mode of transportation.  I had never been athletic so this was a new and completely foreign experience.

There were moments where the trail was obscure but the path was easy to follow and I made my way to the highway by late afternoon.  I was picked up by a climber returning from eastern Washington.  After stopping and looking at the Index Town Wall climbing area, I was dropped off in northern Seattle where I caught a bus and returned home tired but happy at all I had seen and done.

What I got out of this weekend was first of all an acquaintance with the central region of the Alpine Lakes region.  I returned to this area several more times in the next few years.  More importantly I learned how to navigate over land without benefit of trails.  I would from this time on begin to conceptualize trips to wherever I wanted to go and not just ones where there were properly marked trails.  This ability has been called the Freedom of the Hills.  Processing this ability meant that I was able to go wherever I wanted in my wilderness church.  Finally I learned the joy of my body’s performance.  I had never been athletic before then and sought out the easiest way possible, after this weekend I knew I was able to go on most any route and enjoy it, with few limitations.  Later I would learn of even more kinesthetic joys, beyond those that came from strength and endurance alone.