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 therafter 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 lowest in elevation: Robinson Canyon, a fine redwood canyon with oaks set between chaparral-covered hillsides. As in all the Hotspots, access is only for roadside birding as both sides are privately-owned. The paved road through the redwoods is very narrow and there are only a few safe pull-outs, most of them on the right-hand side of the road as you go uphill. Please be very cautious when birding this road day or night -- Rancho San Carlos residents tend to drive the road fast. There are several sharp switchbacks within the lower mile of the this Hotspot.

After finding a safe pull-out, one can bird from the roadedge in the oaks and redwoods. Eventually you'll cross another one-way bridge and have a set of switchbacks that takes you above the canyon. These higher pull-outs give one an overview of the canyon below and across the forested slopes on the other side.

In summer, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Hutton's Vireo, Wilson's Warbler, Purple Finch, and a few local Pacific Wren (once common, now declining) breed in the canyon. In winter or migration, Townsend's Warbler, Pine Siskin, and Golden-crowned Sparrows are present. In recent year a colony of about a dozen Purple Martin may be seen around a tall dead tree well up the hill on the right-hand side of road, across the canyon, at mile-post 7.5 (a smallish pull-out is there). In other years, the martins use other dead snags farther up the canyon in the thick of the redwoods.

Robinson Canyon was once known as a site for a diversity of owls, but it has never been a place to see any owl. Tapes are not permitted here, and the owls will be heard, but not seen, away from the roadside. On a quiet non-moonlit night, experienced birders still record a good diversity of owls (and Poorwill in summer), by patience and quietly listening. The Canyon is good for for mammals, including Racoon, Bobcat, and even Puma. Do drive slowly and carefully at night.

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.