Golden Trout (21 days)

There are lots of things that I can't think of right now. The ride up to Clark's lake (9k ft) was spectacular and the ride up to Alger's (10.3k ft) lake was even better.
The ride back was worse on my knees than I thought but well worth it. This is the view from Algers lake #3 which is well above 11k, almost 12k. Air was thin and I was getting dizzy so I didn't make it all the way up- no one knew where I was so I hiked back down. The lake with all the ice is where I caught about 20 golden and golden hybrids which are golden and rainbow hybrids. Golden's are unique to the Eastern Central Sierra's and are identified by the golden color on their body and near the gills as well as the lack of spots on their body and fins. The golden trout has nothing but golden flanks with a red, horizontal band along the lateral line and 10 dark oval marks, called "parr marks", on each side. Dorsal, lateral and anal fins have white leading edges.

The Golden Trout species came into existence over 70,000 years ago when the ice age caused the Kern River system and the northern Sacramento basin system (containing Red-Band Rainbows) and the ancient ancestors of the Golden Trout, to join. The trout populations were also likely influenced by occasional influxes of Coastal Rainbows thru the San Joaquin River link. As the ice age withdrew, and tectonic plate movement and earthquakes continued to uplift the Sierra Nevada Mountains, populations of Rainbow Trout were isolated in the Kern system by naturally occurring barriers of warm sections of water and waterfalls. Over thousands of years these rainbows evolved into the current day Golden Trout. It is commonly believed the Golden Trout developed their bright red and yellow colors in response to their natural environment. The substrate of many of their native streams have granitic stones stained in light yellow and reddish hues of volcanic origin. Some speculate the goldens adapted to this background color. Another theory is that ultraviolet light may have had an influence. It seems likely that fish in the shallow, exposed, high elevation streams where goldens evolved would be more vulnerable to this solar light source than those in more shaded waters at lower elevations. Usually, goldens found in the former situation are more brilliantly colored.

Instead of writing about the trip, I think providing quick profiles (in no particular order) of my fellow horse pack gang is the route to go for this log. Here is the group shot at Clark's lake. We were smart enough this year not to wait until the last day to take the group shot. From the left- Annette, Kate, Mark, Chris and me.

Mark H- "When the mountain lion grabs my dog- don't worry about me- I am on my way to the pound. I'm not saving my dog." After I said I would fight the mountain lion to save my dog. Mark is a lawyer for Facebook and by far the most clever and funny guy on the trip. He has three kids, some of the flies he was using (and were working) were tied by his kids which was really cool. He is however very anti-Oprah Winfrey (who doesn't love Oprah, COMEON) and Al Gore but we got along anyway :p He and I spent some quality time on Clark's #2 and Algers #3- Clarks however was only fishing for brookies and the swarms of mosquito's were worse than in Port Arthur or anywhere I have ever been- they bit my face through my buff (you'll see pics below of my buff pulled up over my face for sun and bug protection. I finally gave up on Clark's #2 since brookies are abundant, eat anything you present and are over-populated in most areas. Mark was also sensitive to fat jokes although you can tell from his picture- he's not fat :D

Irene- "I have never seen anyone puke over mule shit" She said this after I was dry heaving because my mule wouldn't move and had just taken a huge crap and there was no wind, this was the first 5 minutes of the trip. She had me pegged. She was 66 years old, has lived in Long Pine her whole life and been voted "Top Chef" for back-country camp cooking. Her food was better than any food camping and better than anything in any nearby restaurants. I am that selfish that I want her again next year even though she retired technically two years ago. She also lead us (as in was the wrangler, lead the trail, got off and checked everyone's saddles, etc...) up to both campsites at Clarks and Algers. We had pancakes and bacon, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bbq ribs, lasagna, delicious salads, quesodillas, steak, corn, better eating than what I bother with even in SF. Her stories of course cannot be parallelled and she has great jokes !! I hope to be walking when I am 40 and this lady is packing trips into the back country at 66- what an inspiration for us all !!

Ang (on the right) is the fly shop host and a fly-fishing fiend almost as dedicated to fishing as I am...although she has been fly-fishing for over 40 years (which is amazing since she's only 39 :p ) and is an amazing caster. She mostly assisted the folks on the trip but came close to out-fishing me our last couple of days on Hot Creek (which she hasn't fished in over 20 years) and the Owens. She worked in the outdoor industry and has the "Prada" of ALL camping gear to prove it. Although she lost a rod/reel (again, I might add) in Algers- but she also caught the largest fish (not a golden I don't think) of the trip in Alger's and had see been fishing the whole time, would have caught more fish than I did :)



Kate (right) was the swimmer/fly fishing PHd of the crew. She was often off enjoying the water and took a daily bath (which I didn't take a one, but I was busy fishing during "daylight" hours) so she was the best-looking one who had coordinated outfits and earrings, so needless to say an anomaly for the rest of the crew. An experienced horse-rider, she made me nervous when she galloped close to my slow and steady mule but more importantly she caught a lot of fish and even gave streamer fishing a try.


Annette (left) is the fly-fishing rookie of the group. She recently retired from SFPD (San Francisco police department) and was part of the mounted patrol, so she was mostly going for the scenery and horseback riding. However, she did fish quite a bit and even managed to land a couple of fish. I can't imagine going "for the scenery" but to each her own. I was very grateful when on the part of the trail where Alex (the cowboy wrangler) had to get off his horse and check the trail (because there was so much snow on a very very steep incline) that she didn't want to "try" it either, so we went a different route to the San Joaquin river. Our feeling was that if you have to "check" the trail, we did not want to be on that particular trail. The rest of the gang was disappointed but better safe than sorry !!

Speaking of cowboy's here is Mr Alex, our fantastic wrangler who probably worked as hard as Irene did. He was up every morning before sunrise(except the post-tequila one) taking care of saddling and after feeding and watering the horses and mules he was usually the last one to sleep. He also had to pack all our gear everyday and the kitchen three times to move camps.
Although only 27, he is a Kentucky trained farrier- this is a person who is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of a horse's hoof and the placing of shoes to the horse's foot. A farrier couples a subset of the blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with a subset of veterinary medicine (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb) to address the care of the horse's feet. (p.s. I started just stealing from wikipedia, figured it's easier to just cut and paste than insert links to information :)) Anyway, he was super-cute, great attitude and lead us on our daily excursion to the San Joaquin river on a fairly intense trail but one that had magnificent views- below is a shot of the Minarets in the middle of the Ritter range- a camera cannot capture the beauty !!



Now, I have to be honest- this is actually a nice part of the trail so needless to say we couldn't take pictures on the really tough parts of the trail but again for the fishing- it was well worth it !!

Last but not least was Chris who was by far the quietest of the group. He works in shipping (of something I didn't really understand but it involved radioactive and other sensitive packages) and lives in Los Altos. He wasn't super-experienced fisherman but did catch some fish. He is from North Carolina and carries the accent as well as the propensity for enjoying evening festivities where he occasionally piped into the conversation. He probably thought we were all looney-toons but oh well :D


Finally, I have to add in some gratuitous fishing pictures (we call it fish porn, yes they each a different fish) and scenery pics that words can't describe. I have to admit this part of our gorgeous country makes me consider teaching school so I can go be in the Ansel Adams wilderness all summer which is exactly what Irene did, she taught school for over 30 years and about 10 of that was teaching Agg.