Robinson Canyon Road branches off right (south) from Carmel Valley Road at 6.9 miles inland from Highway 1, just past the Mid-Valley Shopping Center. It first goes through suburbs but then narrows, crosses a narrow bridge, and is thereafter divided into three Hotspots: Robinson Canyon (from milepost 8.5 to about milepost 5 at a summit), middle (San Francisquito Valley and Reservoir between milepost 5 to milepost 2), and then upper (redwood and higher elevation to White Rock gate).

This Hotspot is the uppermost 2 miles of the public Robinson Canyon Road. As in all the Hotspots, access is only for roadside birding as both sides are privately-owned. Its upper end is the gate for White Rock development (which is the end of the public road), and its lower end is about milepost 2, whether the gated San Clemente Trail goes north (as a paved road).

These uppermost 2 miles include oak woodland, riparian willow patches at creeks, another very fine redwood grove, and then higher elevation chaparral and oak-pine woods.

The elevation at the White Rock gate is at about 2700' (823m) elevation, in oak-pine woodland, with chaparral on south-facing slopes. It is probably the nearest location to the Monterey Peninsula to routinely hear Mountain Quail (but there is no good way to see them, as they seem to avoid the paved road which is driven by fast drivers). In spring and summer, it is perhaps the closest locations to the Monterey Peninsula to find breeding Cassin's Vireo, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and Western Tanager. The redwoods have various owls, but there is no reasonable way to see them -- no access away from the road and tapes not permitted.

Robinson Canyon Road is mile-posted from top (at private White Rock development) to the bottom (at Carmel Valley Road). Birders will generally be birding "up the road" so the mile-posts will be counting backwards as one ascends paved Robinson Canyon Road. After one crosses the watershed summit (at about mile-post 5, where paved but gated "Penon Peak Trail" goes north), one drops down into a wide "hanging valley," most of which is private-owned Rancho San Carlos. All the access roads into Rancho San Carlos will be paved but gated. Birders must remain on the public Robinson Canyon Road. Robinson Canyon Road is rather narrow, and residents sometimes drive it too fast, so be cautious, and pull off the roadway if you wish to walk through the roadside habitat.