Buckskin Ridge, Robinson Creek (Middle Fork Pasayten River) & Whistler Cutoff — Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025

Do you love non stop mountain views, pristine lakes, dramatic vistas, varied terrain, solitude and more berries than you could possibly eat? Then Buckskin Ridge may be the trail for you!

WARNING: You must also be comfortable with heights, narrow trails, loose footing, a little bushwhacking, constant elevation changes and at least one relentlessly steep ascent.

My partner and I spent three days in the Pasayten, traveling a clockwise loop across Buckskin Ridge and back via Robinson Creek Trail (Middle Fork Pasayten). All milage and elevation is via Gaia.

Day 1: Buckskin Ridge TH to Buckskin Lake, 13 miles, +3,001' (-3,500')

The road up to Buckskin Ridge Trail head is passable by all vehicles, evidenced by the Hyundai Elantra at Hart's pass, but high clearance and decent tires are highly recommended. It took us about an hour in an F150 to navigate the usual potholes and washboard plus one particularly narrow and steep section. There were six cars at the TH when we began around 8:30am. Plenty of Wilderness passes at the sign board.

Buckskin Ridge to Silver Lake: 

This trail starts off with views right away and is very easy to follow as you travel across talus slopes, meadows, and eventually through lush forest. The ripe berries follow you the entire 5 miles to Silver Lake. We stopped here to refill water and have lunch. There were some bugs, but they were not really a nuisance and the trout were really enjoying them.

Silver Lake to Silver Pass:

This section started off mostly forested (plentiful berries again) with elevation trending up and periodic views.

Silver Pass to Buckskin Ridge:

Take in the view, hydrate, and steel yourself for a wild descent. The trail becomes VERY ROUGH right away with a steep descent straight down a drainage from the pass. You will wind your way through the trees a bit before beginning the relentless ascent across an old avalanche scar back to the same elevation further along the ridge. Though this section was pretty easy to follow, it requires constant vigilance. There is no real exposure as you're on a slope (versus a cliff), but the trail is about one foot wide with a soft edge, loose rocks, trees and other vegetation in the trail, and STEEP sections where I was really happy to have my trekking poles.

My theory is that the original trail stayed high and followed a contour just below the ridge before it slid or was erased by avalanche. There is clearly a section of trail on either side the the rough section I just mentioned that has been blocked off. Feel free to jump in the comments if you know what really happened here.

Once you reach a high point again you will continue up and down for a bit more until you eventually come over the buckskin ridge saddle to a lovely tarn. But wait, still a few more miles of narrow trail, so keep watching you feet.

Despite all that, this trail was spectacular. The views were non stop and we did not see another person the entire day. My mantra became "I am working for my solitude!" And it would not have been possible without the WTA's Lost Trails Found program. There must have been a trail crew out there recently with some real nice hand tools because there were zero blowdowns. ZERO*.

*Ok fine, there was one to step over and one to go under, but it was nothing compared to what had once been as evidenced below.

Buckskin lake was a lovely. There are established camp sites right near the lake or you can cross the outflow and head up a short trail to more secluded sites. There were two groups there when we arrived.

Day 2: Buckskin Lake to "Horse Camp" on Robinson Creek (Middle Fork Pasayten), 13.4 miles, +1,200' (-2,500')

Buckskin Lake to Middle Fork Pasayten: The highlight of this section was between Buckskin Lake and the Bridge across the river. The trail surface is still narrow and loose here but you get sweeping views up and down the river valley on both sides, plus glimpses of some of the larger peaks and buttes. Even the forested sections were interesting, if a bit brushy, and absolutely bursting with mushrooms. I even gathered up a few pear-shaped puff balls to add to our dinner. 

From the river, we headed to a camp just .5 from the intersection with the spur to Ferguson Lake. We had originally planned to camp at one of the lakes up around 7,000', but the forecast called for a chance of lightning. With the weather that had been moving in over the previous day and with winds and dark clouds arriving again, we decided to play it safe and stay low.

This section of trail was like a highway compared to the goat road we had traveled thus far. Great trail surface, no blowdowns (thanks again WTA), hardly any elevation change, abundant water sources and more berries and cool fungi.

There is a camp on the right side of the trail along a lovely meadow that has clearly been "modified" for use as a horse camp. There is access to the river via a short trail through the trees just beyond camp.

Day 3: Whistler Cutoff to Buckskin Ridge Trail and TH, 4.4 miles, +1,700 (-9') Yes, that's 9 feet.

This last section trends steadily upward from the river ford and becomes a bit more steep as it takes on the character of a typical west coast ascent to a pass. You get more berries and fungi, talus slopes, avalanche meadows, and even some switchbacks. 

It is important to note that water becomes scarce here with only a couple drainage creeks still holding the bare minimum to refill bottles. I recommend filling up at camp or the ford and save the higher up creeks for emergencies as they are quite low.

At the trail head there were even fewer cars than before and not much more heading up as we drove the long road back to Mazama for lunch.