Exploring the Golden Trout Wilderness On Hoof

Photo by author.

Most people haven’t heard of the Golden Trout Wilderness. It’s not Yosemite. It’s not even Sequoia.

It’s a 304,000 acre designated wilderness area contained within Inyo National Forest, at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada, and primarily consisting of the Kern Plateau, a high drainage basin.

It gets its name from the endemic golden trout, the State Freshwater Fish of California. They’re related to rainbow trout, but golden. The golden trout is found in Golden Trout Creek, Volcano Creek and the South For Kern river. The Little Kern golden trout is found in the Little Kern River basin and the Kern River rainbow trout is found in all of the Kern river. They’re closely related subspecies that interbreed. They can also interbreed with brown and rainbow trout, which is, well, bad.

The wilderness area was designated primarily to be a reservoir area for these fish and to protect their spawning grounds. It’s a mecca for anglers who want the experience of catching one. (As a note, there’s also a population of golden trout in Alberta, where they were introduced).

So, yes, this place is all about the fish, but the fish were not what we were there for.

We were there for the hooved beasties!