Backpacking for Gold...en Trout

Preparing for my first ever backpacking trip at the end of September was a bit stressful, the thought of being underprepared or even over prepared was on my mind constantly. As I bought the gear needed, the days before the trip became less stressful and only more exciting with only the thought of the golden trout on my mind. When I first learned of the California golden trout I was exhilarated to go in search of them. By no means am I an experienced fisherman especially when it comes to trout, but I went along with a friend that was. The day of the trip we met up, prepared our rods, packed our gear in the truck and went on our way. Leaving roughly around 3 o’clock in the morning and an energy drink in hand ready for the exploration to start. 

As we drove towards the Sierra Nevada's and the sun was just rising over the mountains in the east, we turned off the highway, on the road to our destination. The sunrise produces a golden hue as we drive up the road and the cell service slips away just as we do into the mountains. Unsure of what to expect with minutes left until we arrive, the excitement grows knowing we are so close to what we were in search of. We park the truck, grab our gear, tighten our shoelaces, and we eagerly set on our way. Backpacks on, rods on our side, and our eight and a half mile hike rising close to a couple thousand feet ahead of us. The trail went along as the scenery captivated us, and though the backpacks straps started to rub my shoulders raw it did not stop me. The miles passed on and breathers were definitely needed, but we were making good time so we were okay with it. We would find fallen tree trunks to sit down upon and take in everything around us. The rustling of the towering trees from the wind, the river at our side, and serenity all around us. Jokes were cracked, but conversation gravitated towards our excitement for these fish. We crossed over a log that was the way over the stream to continue on the trail where we found our first gold. The stream led down into a little honey hole filled with small golden trout. Knowing to be careful with these fish, we tossed our line in. One after another we each pulled one out of there and couldn’t be more amazed at the colors and patterns these fish had. This was only the start.

The appeal to these trout was so high for us because not many have the chance to catch these fish. They survive and populate in high elevation and are only native to specific areas in California, but we had done our research and were determined to catch these trout for months. The California golden trout has been the official freshwater state fish for California since 1947. Though they are stocked in other locations we wanted to find them in their native habitat. They are smart fish who are easily spooked, so catching them is no easy task. As an inexperienced fisherman who only really got into fishing over the past few years with only saltwater and lake experience under my belt from when I was a young kid I knew it would not be an easy task. That in itself was the largest appeal to me, though my inexperience was going to make it more challenging I was even more excited.

As the dreaded five mile point was ahead of us we stared at a switchback trail. The trail worked up the side of what seemed to be a towering mountain, but we did not stop. Well… we did stop for a second saying two words “Well... ” and you can fill the rest in with your imagination. We got on our way up the steep switchbacks with rocks and logs to step over or avoid on the way. Being blatantly honest I was exhausted, at roughly 10,000 feet in elevation I struggled to catch my breath. I took my occasional 30 second break to “enjoy the scenery”, but as we went on we saw the top and that made us push harder to see the first lake. Though it was strenuous at the time, once we reached the top of our first real push the weight felt lifted at the scene of the lake. We made our walk towards the lake finding a large boulder to lay our backpacks next to and set up a quick camp to cook some of our dry foods and go fish. Though I had no luck, my friend did, he reeled in a beautiful hybrid rainbow golden trout. After fishing for a little we were eager to eat, we made our meals, ate and took a quick nap. Waking up and being surrounded by the mountains immersing myself in my senses realizing how lucky I was and yet we still hadn’t reached our final destination. We soon set on for the rest of our hike with only a couple miles left. We passed something that looked to be a dried up lake, but we weren’t entirely sure and continued on. The next couple of miles seemed to pass with ease and we came upon the third lake that was something you’d see out of a painting. We walked down to the water's edge and found a perfect site to set up camp. 

We made a “camp” which was simply just some of our gear unpacked in our sleeping bags and we intended to sleep under the stars and cowboy camp. We got our rods out and decided to throw a few casts as the sun was starting to just dip below the mountains surrounding us. Sucked into serenity I was okay with not catching a fish and focused on my stomach growling at me for food. We went back, cooked up our meals chatting away as the last bit of light was slipping away revealing the millions of stars in the sky. As the temperature dropped it became freezing, especially for a Southern California kid who has summer weather 75% of the year. I bundled myself up as well as I could and got in my sleeping bag that could withstand this weather. I lay down in my mummy like sleeping bag and stare off into the nighttime sky trying to keep my mind off of feeling constricted in movement. The night's rest was nothing close to good, I did not like being constricted, but there was no chance I would take my arms out of that sleeping bag knowing I would be freezing. Soon the morning came and the cold only stayed around until the light crept over the mountain’s peaks in the east. As we made our coffee and breakfast we could not wait to reach the last two lakes which is where we were told was the place to fish.

We hiked another mile or two up and wanted to find our campsite for the night as quickly as we could so we could get our full day of fishing in, knowing we had a short trip and had to leave midday the following day. We found a great site, we had coverage from all four sides which restricted the wind to rip through our campsite that night. After determining we were going to fish the highest lake first we went off on our way around the lake fishing and having some good luck. The far end of the lake we found the gold we were in search of. We found a great spot and killed it. We got to look at many different golden trout and hybrids that we caught with ranges of vibrancies in color. From blood red and orange to a beautiful golden yellow, they did not lack in captivating colors. They are small fish in general, but put up a very fun fight and we made sure to get them in the water quickly so they would survive. We practiced the catch and release method throughout the trip to conserve the amazing fish we were able to experience so others can do the same. We made our way back to camp fishing and exploring along the way and just couldn’t help being amazed by the views. We got back to our camp and decided to cook up a meal around four o’clock. As my meal was heating, I looked across the lake and saw what looked like a smoke cloud rolling over the top of the mountain. I pointed it out and my friend pushed it off at first, but then we both agreed we needed to keep an eye on it. Just as the meal was about to be finished, we looked back at the mountain and it was definitely smoke. That’s when things changed quickly.

The smoke had crept just over half way down the mountain in a matter of 10 minutes and was working its way towards us at an alarming rate. We had known there were fires in the Sequoias, but did not realize they were as close as they were. We packed up our camp quickly and decided we would make our way down the mountain to evaluate the situation further while keeping a distance from the smoke. Of course we had to snap a few pictures on our way out to document our trip, but did not take long to do so. As we started our trek down the smoke had made its way down the mountain and was starting to roll over the top of the lake we had decided to skip over and fish the next day. We kept going down the trail to the third lake we came across and decided to check out how the smoke was down there. It was clear, but the winds were pushing towards us and we decided we had to make our way down the mountain even more. Luckily we did, as we made our way on we kept checking behind us for the smoke and it was gaining on us quickly. We knew we weren’t going to be able to stop because dusk was near and we wanted to cover as much ground as possible in the light.

Ultimately we made the decision that the trip had to come to an unfortunate end. The smoke was becoming heavy and we did not want to be breathing that smoke in for long. We hiked down the trail and as night fell, the ash did as well. We made our way through the dark for over an hour and finally completed the hike after two and a half hours. We were exhausted, not sure where the fire had spread to, and hungry… very hungry. We got our gear in the back of the truck and got in the cab. Taking in the somewhat fresh air that we hadn’t had outside and gathered our thoughts. Still bummed about having to call our trip short, we soon became grateful for even the smallest opportunity that we were able to take advantage of. The experience fueled the quest to “Explore my uncharted”, because it was a memorable trip with many learning experiences to be had.