Lineham Creek Peaks — explor8ion

Way back in 2004, Bob Spirko posted a trip report up Lineham Creek where he details a snowy ascent of “Lineham Twin Peaks”. When Andrew Nugara put out his More Scrambles book, he detailed not only the two peaks that Bob did, but added a few more to the mix — all labeled as grid references (GR’s). With the latest Gaia base topo maps these are now unintuitively (how are there three twin peaks — shouldn’t there only be two?) named, Lineham North, Lineham Center and Lineham South Twin Peak. Trap Peak is the highest, hardest and furthest south of the four and can be done separately (like I did in 2023) or as part of a difficult traverse like Andrew did in 2006 and So Nakagawa did in 2009.

After an amazing trip into the Egypt Lakes area a week previous, Friday October 10th was looking like the last 20 degree, snow free day in the mountains for a while. Despite suffering a knee injury while slipping off a slick slab on Greater Pharaoh Peak, I wasn’t in the mood to sit at home on such a gorgeous day. There was no way I could swing a golf club or even go for a long cycle, so I decided I’d try one last scramble. For some reason, the Lineham Creek peaks seemed like a good set of objectives on a bum set of knees so I decided to go check them out.

I left the Lineham PRA parking lot along hwy 40 at around 08:30 under a clear morning sky. Temperatures were on the chilly side but I knew that once the sun rose a little higher it would warm up quickly. My knees held up for the first kilometer as I followed an obvious trail through forest and then a not-so-obvious route along the creek. I quickly recalled from my last time in here that the route doesn’t cross the creek but stays on ascender left for the first 1.5kms. I could easily spot my destination peaks with the SW ascent ridge already early on, which was both annoying and nice depending on how my knees were feeling at the time of sighting.

My peaks show up early on in the hike (C-L). Trap Peak is the larger one at distant right.

North and center peak in the far distance from the messed up Lineham Creek.

The trail continues out of the creek but deviates onto it, always on the left side.

Like I said, the trail is a little messed up in places. But it's always there somewhere!

At around the 1.5km mark the trail experiences its first split, the left hand trail goes to Lineham Ridge, mine went straight — still not crossing the creek. Another 1.3kms of rough hiking took me to the creek crossing (low enough to rock hop). This is also where my ascent route deviated out of the creek, up a steep embankment on an obvious dirt track. Most of my return would be in the creek proper — much like I did on Trap Peak.

The trail continues up a ridge at left here with the north and center peak visible. My ascent ridge is skyline left.

High above my exit creek (R) with views of Center, South and Trap (R) Peak.

I got all excited when I saw this blaze but alas, no trail here.

For some reason I thought I’d be on a trail of some sort all the way to treeline on the lower SW slopes of peak #1, but this was not to be. I followed a faint trail along the ridge until I came to a small pile of rocks where the trail split. I could see from my GPS that the left hand split is where the route to so-called “Pickletooth Peak” starts, once again I wanted to go straight. Soon after this junction I spotted a clear blazed tree which had me excited until losing all signs of a trail shortly thereafter. Arg.

In the drainage that curves left towards the lower SW end of my ascent ridge.

Continuing up the drainage. The smart move would be going up to my left here but I went up a little further and then ascended grass slopes up to the left to gain the ridge above.

The drainage is scenic, looking up to the ridge (L) and my first two peaks high above.

Eventually I gave up on a trail and made my way through light forest until noting an open creek bed to my right. I deviated into it and followed it as it ascended and curved towards the lower SW end of my ascent ridge to peak #1. Instead of making the logical choice and going up the ridge from the creek, I stayed in the creek a little longer before cutting up steep grass slopes to the ridge above. These south slopes were delightful in morning sun and I enjoyed the warmth and the summer-like atmosphere as I finally ascended high out of the creek.

Views back down my ascent slopes - the drainage far below.

All four peaks visible on a gorgeous fall day in the front ranges.

On the easy SW ridge, north and center peaks visible.

My knees weren’t entirely happy with me as I continued up the SW ridge, but they were holding up just fine so ignored them. To be honest, it was a miracle I could even be out here today on them and I kept that thought top of mind as I slowly ascended the easy slopes.

Looking up the SW ridge to the north peak with the center, south and Trap Peak to the right.

The ridge looked easy already from near the parking lot and indeed, it was. Despite a few annoying drops along the way, everything stayed easy and straightforward right to the north summit. The center peak didn’t look easy though! At this point I wasn’t too concerned, I knew that it would break down as I got nearer.

Some annoying, but easy drop offs up the SW ridge.

Despite appearances, the north summit (L) remains pretty easy. The center summit at right.

Summit views were very respectable for such a lowly objective, especially towards a clear line of Divide peaks to the west and others nearby such as Dogtooth and Patterson’s Peak. After snapping photos I gingerly started down the SE ridge to the center peak.

Views from the north summit looking east towards Pickletooth, Dogtooth, Pyriform, Patterson's and Trap (R).

Views west to the Divide and my approach route.

Great views to the Divide looking over peaks like Bishop and McCrae towards more distant giants like Abruzzi and Joffre.

Going downhill was always going to be the concern for my knees today and they didn’t disappoint. I had to be extremely cautious but even so, I ended up yelling every once in a while when I tweaked them the wrong way. (Yes, I know I was being irresponsible but you can’t always make perfect decisions. That’s boring. Plus I made it, so it’s a moot point now.)

Views back up to the north summit from the moderate descent ridge.

Despite appearances, the route stays moderate to the center peak.

Things breaking down to become easier the closer I get to the summit of center peak.

The ridge immediately under the north summit was definitely SC6 (moderate) scrambling with some exposure. It was nice grippy slab and I enjoyed it. After that I found a nice traverse just under the ridge crest that I used to avoid any more difficulties. Despite looking fierce, the ascent was pretty straightforward once I was on it and soon I was enjoying views from the center “summit”. It only took me around 10 minutes to traverse the first two peaks, so definitely not “peaks”, but heh!

Great views north (L), east (C) and south (R) from the summit looking over the Trap Creek headwater valleys.

From the center peak, the third looked fierce once again. The SE ridge between the north and south summits is interesting. Despite looking extreme, once you’re on it, it’s pretty tame. Once again, I descended some moderate terrain under the center summit but then found ledges and goat trails just off the ridge crest to the right that avoided anything difficult. Any exposed scrambling that I did from there to the south summit was by choice for the most part.

Views to the south peak sitting much lower than Trap Peak.

A wider view towards my next summit. Everything pretty much staying moderate.

Looking back at a moderate step along the ridge.

Great positions and views on the traverse.

Seeing a large group of mountain goats on the traverse was kind of neat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large group before, there were at least 7 or 8 including young ones. I stuck to the ridge crest to keep things more fun and by 12:30 I was standing on my last summit — 4 hours from the car traveling quite slow and gingerly.

A beautiful mountain goat on the traverse ahead of me.

The south peak looks much harder than it is from here. I stuck to the ridge to make things more fun.

Another neat position along the ridge. Exposure down to the left was fun.

The traverse to Trap Peak looked terrifying in sections and is rumored to be a climbers scramble. I didn’t have to find out, so I turned down easy rubble and scree slopes SW of my position. I wasn’t sure how the terrain would act on my knees, but as long as I went slowly and used my poles I was fine. Every once in a while I would let out a loud yell from jarring or twisting them in a certain direction.

Yet another pano over the upper Trap Creek drainage. Patterson's and Trap Peak to the right and my ridge traverse at left.

The sun was warm on my neck as the few remaining birds let out their songs and squirrels chattered angrily nearby. It was one of those beautiful late season days when you know that it’s going to be at least 5 or 6 months before you feel that kind of warmth and atmosphere again. I slowly descended the huge drainage as it narrowed into a creek below.

Nearing the bottom of the face where the gully starts to narrow towards the lower exit creek.

Views back up my descent drainage and scree slopes.

I continued following the creek as it willowed out and then descended into the main drainage that I’d used to access Trap Peak a few years previous. It was surprising to see snow lingering in the shaded creek considering I’d just been sweating in 20 degrees but it’s that time of year I suppose. I had to be VERY careful not to slip or tweak my knees while descending this section. It didn’t take too long and I was back on my approach route, managing to stick on the battered trail along Lineham Creek better than on approach.

Now in the main drainage I used to access Trap Peak (R). South Peak at upper left here.

Surprised to see snow in the creek despite very warm temperatures.

The trail is pretty messed up along Lineham Creek.

I recognize that going out solo on a relatively remote set of objectives on a pair of bum knees is not the smartest decision I’ve made this year. Of course, it all worked out in the end but that doesn’t make the decision a good one. But like I wrote earlier, not every decision is going to be perfect and in the end I had a great last day in warm sunshine on some fun, relatively easy objectives. I have zero interest in slogging through snowy terrain on slick rubble so I knew that this would very likely be my last scramble for many months. (As I write this report 11 days later, my knees are still recovering but I can now cycle at least, so I can keep my workouts going.) I highly recommend this outing for anyone looking for a quick trip with great views and some fun scrambling and route finding.