SUMMARY: This is the trail that goes to the first lake, also known (unofficially) as Holly Lake, and referred to as the Downton Alpine Lake trail in the "Canyon to Alpine" hiking book.
Just beyond the landing, look for flagging and a tree stump with a sign saying "TRAIL". This stump may have an old enamel teapot perched on top. Follow the trail through the re-growing cutblock into the forest where it climbs fairly steeply to reach open meadows on the south face of a ridge. At the end of the meadows, there is a junction. The trail turns left towards the lake (continuing straight leads to the open terrain on the way to Statimcets Peak, referred to as Peak 8700 in the Scrambles book), crossing a small creek and reaching it within 10 minutes.
There are a few flat spots for camping here but there are no facilities so practice Leave No Trace camping.
The trail continues beyond the lake towards a second lake (known as Lorna Lake). The trail peters out in wet meadows, and is marked with pink/orange flagging for a short distance before that runs out too just after another creek is crossed. Continue straight up the creek to reach the open meadows (if heading for Linus, or an alternative approach to Statimcets). To reach the lake, just pick the easiest way through the trees to reach the small outlet creek. The scramble up to Soprano Peak begins here.create
fullscreen
NOTICEBOARD
add_box
Downton Creek Trail
starstarstarstarstar
Aug 9, 2020
The Downton Creek area is a fantastic basin for scrambling. We did Linus Mountain and Statimcets Peak scramble loop!. Highly recommend it.