Horseshoe Meadows Road, which runs south from Whitney Portal Road west of the town of Lone Pine, provides access via the Horseshoe Meadows trailhead to backcountry trout waters set amid the iconic granite peaks and forested drainages of the southern Sierra Nevada range. Our previous issue covered the waters reached via northward hikes from this trailhead (see “Go for the Gold: The Horseshoe Meadows Trailhead,” September/October 2016). The article below covers the waters that can be reached by hikes to the west and south.
Standing at the edge of the Boreal Ridge at Siberian Outpost, one gets a good view of Big Whitney Meadow a thousand feet below. This ridge, which was named for its stark, windswept character, marks the boundary between the high-alpine expanse of the Whitney bench at nearly 11,000 feet and the Kern Plateau, which falls away from Big Whitney Meadow’s 9,700-foot elevation. The Kern Plateau east of the main stem of the Kern is a collection of meadows, large and small, surrounded by piñon pine forest in the lowest elevations, Jeffrey pines in the middle altitudes, and open lodgepole pines as you near the headwaters.
My first angling experience on the Kern Plateau was on Golden Trout Creek, near Groundhog Meadow, in the Golden Trout Wilderness. It was at the end of the first day of a 10-day trip that started at Horseshoe Meadows and wound its way up the Kern River Canyon, up the Sierra High Route to Wallace Creek, and back to Horseshoe Meadows along the Pacific Crest Trail. It is a trip I would make again in a heartbeat.
It was late in the day, and I knew I had less than an hour in which to fish. We had not planned to stop at this place, but had been held up because the movement of some stock had tied up the trail in the area of Little Whitney Meadow. After camp had been established, I walked a bit down the creek and found a spot where the creek wound back and forth at the edge of the forest. I had grabbed a small box of dry flies and had set off with a 4-weight rod to see what I could see.
The creek ran slowly through its bends, and fish were feeding in the fading light. My first cast was rewarded with a feisty little golden trout. I had fished for goldens before and thought I understood their beauty, but this fish was off the chart. The colors, even at dusk, were vibrant, and the black par marks showed up in sharp contrast to the red stripe that ran along the side of its bright yellow body. I quickly released it, but there was a part of me that just wanted to stare at it and try to absorb what I was seeing. I took a few more similar fish before turning back to find our group, and it was clear to me that I would never be able to get enough of this. Thankfully, I have been able to go back for more opportunities to fish for golden trout in their historic home.
Except for the main stem of the Kern River in its dramatic canyon, the streams of the Golden Trout Wilderness are modest in size, as are most of their trout. The same equipment that works on the Whitney bench north of Horseshoe Meadows will also work fine if you are headed south. I fish with a multipiece rod, either a 3-weight or a 4-weight. The waters are clear, and the trout are easily disturbed, so I end up with no more than a 6X tippet, and often a 7X. Always the dry-fly guy, I carry a box that contains a selection including parachute patterns, Elk Hair Caddises, Royal Wulffs, Humpies, Cutter’s Perfect Ants, Stimulators, and grasshopper imitations. My wife swears by a Sierra Bright Dot for these fish. I don’t fish here with anything larger than a size 16, except for the Stimulator or hoppers, with which I go up to a size 12. Unless you can fish in willows without losing flies (not an ability that I possess), take twice as many flies as you think reasonable.
I do a lot of fishing out of base camps, so I want to go light and minimal, carrying a small day pack with lunch, an emergency kit, a rain shell and extra layer, sun and insect protection, and water. Although it does not seem like it, almost all of the plateau is above 9,000 feet, so sun screen is a must.
Golden Trout Creek
The headwaters of both the South Fork of the Kern and Golden Trout Creek are accessed by trails that originate at Horseshoe Meadows. For Golden Trout Creek, the key destinations are Big Whitney Meadow and the Rocky Basin Lakes, and for the South Fork Kern, Mulkey Meadow. Because the two streams are within a quarter of a mile of one another near Tunnel Meadow, it is easy to create a backcountry trip that combines both in a loop. Beginning the trip with Big Whitney Meadow and Golden Trout Creek allows one to avoid the steep hike out of Big Whitney Meadow by finishing the loop via either Trail Pass or Mulkey Pass.
As I described in the previous issue of California Fly Fisher, Big Whitney Meadow can be reached in a roundabout way by crossing New Army Pass and traversing the Siberian Outpost to meet up with the Pacific Crest Trail. Heading south at the PCT–New Army Pass junction, a trail leads over Siberian Pass and then drops 1,200 feet in 4.8 miles to the meadow. Make sure that you have filled your water carrier before leaving this junction, because there are no reliable water sources before you reach Big Whitney Meadow. The trail rises and falls over small ridges and then crosses Golden Trout Creek. From there, make a mostly gentle descent with good footing until you reach the more sandy soils near the edge of the meadow. Follow the trail toward the western end of Big Whitney Meadow until you reach an intersection with the trail from Cottonwood Pass.
The Cottonwood Pass Trail is a much more direct way to get to Big Whitney. The meadow is a two-day trip via New Army Pass, but is a fairly easy day over Cottonwood Pass. I described Cottonwood Pass in “Go for the Gold.” When you reach the summit of the pass, you simply follow the marked trail crossing the PCT and heading downhill to the plateau. The descent is steep at first, following a series of short switchbacks. Midway through the switchbacks, the trail crosses Stokes Stringer Creek and continues a steep descent until leveling out at a small meadow area that is not the destination. Instead, Big Whitney Meadow is found after crossing a forested ridge. The trail continues through the meadow, passing island copses of pines until it hooks up with the route down from Siberian Pass.
Trail Pass offers a third option for the trip into Big Whitney Meadow. Trail Pass offers the trade-off of added distance for a decrease in elevation gain. Although it is almost twice the mileage from the Horseshoe Meadows trailhead to the Big Whitney Meadow junction, the summit of the pass is some 900 feet lower. The trailhead is the same as for Cottonwood Pass, located at the end of the Horseshoe Meadows Road near the pack station. It is a part of the historic Hocket Trail, which ran from the South Fork of the Kaweah River to Lone Pine and was an important route for bringing cattle and sheep to summer ranges. Today, the trail is often used by Pacific Crest Trail hikers to access resupply sources in Lone Pine.
After initially following the Cottonwood Pass trail for about a third of a mile, a junction sign directs the Trail Pass hiker across Cottonwood Creek and then across Horseshoe Meadows. After a mile, you reach a junction with a lateral trail that connects to the Mulkey Pass Trail, which also originates in Horseshoe Meadows. This would be an alternative way to begin the ascent to Trail Pass and avoids the meadow areas, which can be hot late in the season and boggy early in the year. The trail switch-backs at the beginning of the two-mile hike from this trail junction to the summit of the pass (10,150 feet). At the summit, take the right-hand fork along the PCT. The trail winds upward through a foxtail pine forest and then wraps around the base of Trail Peak and continues on past a ford of Corpsman Creek. An uphill swing carries the trail up and over a final ridge and down to the junction with the Cottonwood Pass Trail some 4.8 miles from the Trail Pass summit. A signpost directs the hiker to the west to begin a descent of nearly 1,500 feet to Big Whitney Meadow. The meadow is immediately visible from the ridge above, spilling out in areas of grassy green mixed with patches of sand and sage. A group of pines stands as an island of forest in the middle of the meadow. The trail falls away alongside Stokes Stringer Creek. Half a mile or so after the junction, a small bench provides a potential campsite. Below this bench, the trail switches back and forth to a ford of Stokes Stringer Creek and then descends more gently to the east end of the meadow. The trail crosses several seasonal streams on its way to a ford of Golden Trout Creek and the intersection with the Siberian Pass Trail. The Big Whitney Meadow area can be quite dry by the end of the summer, and Golden Trout Creek is the only reliable source of water. The entire Kern Plateau was heavily grazed, and it is a good idea to purify water from any of the streams you find there.
Toward the west edge of Big Whitney Meadow is another trail junction. One fork drops to the south and follows Golden Trout Creek. A turn to the right offers the opportunity to visit the Rocky Basin Lakes, regarded as the source of Golden Trout Creek. This trail begins with a series of easy switchbacks that cross a moraine and lead to Barigan Stringer Creek. Following the Stringer trail uphill leads through a foxtail pine forest to the lakes. These lakes contain trout, but they are rainbows. The fishing in the basin and at nearby Johnson Lake is said to be quite good. The Funston Lakes, located nearly, are said to be fishless. Interestingly, save for a couple of small lakes at the head of the main stem of the Kern, these are the only lakes in the Golden Trout Wilderness. If you choose not to visit the extreme headwaters of Golden Trout Creek, follow the trail downstream. The trail follows the creek for three miles until it reaches the trail that runs through Tunnel Meadow. By that time, the creek has veered off to the west, headed toward the Kern River Canyon. Golden Trout Creek runs through forests and willows and offers angling opportunities galore. The creek continues downstream from Tunnel Meadow for another five miles or so until reaching Little Whitney Meadow, from where it abruptly drops into the Kern.
The entire reach between the two Whitney Meadows is simply a joy to fish. You will find every kind of water imaginable — plunge pools, riffles, and slow, carved-bank meadow areas. Although there are places where the stream turns close to the trail, the Kern Plateau is not nearly as heavily traveled as the region to the north, and the majority of the stream is out of sight of hikers. For these reasons, it is quite easy to experience a feeling of deep solitude while pursuing the trout.
At one point not far from Tunnel Meadow, I found a series of small pocket meadows separated by short bursts of freestone water. Each meadow begins with a riffled tailout from the faster water above, and the creek then slows and executes a few deeply cut turns before picking up speed for the next drop. The stream banks were dotted with red, orange, purple, blue, and yellow wildflowers, and the early fall air was crisp and clear. There are very healthy populations of willows here, especially in the little meadow areas, so a bit of work was required to secure casting locations. It was difficult to maintain concentration amid the peace and beauty of the place, and I was glad I had packed what had seemed like a multitude of flies. Every well-executed cast brought interest from a fish. Although these are wild trout in the truest sense of the word, they will still spook and flee from a clumsy approach or heavy-handed cast. Although it did not seem to matter a great deal what dry-fly pattern I tied onto my tippet, a size 16 or smaller fly appeared to be more to their liking. I am a pretty deliberate fisher, and I spent four hours fishing what could not have been more than half a mile of water. Each fish brought to hand gleamed in the sunshine and truly felt like a gift. I can easily see spending three days or more just fishing between the two Whitney Meadows.
The South Fork of the Kern
The trail junction just east of Tunnel Meadows offers several choices when planning a trip to the plateau. The first of these would be to continue along Golden Trout Creek down through Little Whitney Meadow, past Volcano Falls and into the Kern trench. This would enable one to complete the loop back to Horseshoe Meadows by going up the Kern, climbing out of the trench, and exiting via the PCT. This trip has been a standout experience in my life. I think of it often and would recommend it to anyone with the time and endurance to make the hike.
The second would be to work your way back home by going up to Tunnel Meadow, fishing the South Fork of the Kern and up into the headwaters of Mulkey Creek, then walking out over Mulkey Pass. This option would give a taste of the South Fork Kern, but would deny the opportunity to devote meaningful time to the Kern’s historic watershed in the Golden Trout Wilderness.
To take full advantage of the South Fork of the Kern, consider a third choice by camping in one of the many excellent spots in Tunnel Meadow and spending a day or so fishing upper Mulkey Creek, which provides an opportunity to see pure Kern River–strain golden trout. After that, spend a few days working the South Fork down to the Templeton fish barrier to check out a golden trout restoration effort in action (see sidebar on page 40).
Tunnel Meadow is an interesting place in itself. There is the remnant of the diversion that undid the separation between two strains of golden trout. Standing at the collapsed tunnel provides an excellent opportunity to wonder “What were these people thinking?” and also to ponder what sorts of things are happening now that will provoke the same question from future generations.
Tunnel Meadow was once the home of a thriving “air camp” that was served by its own 2,100-foot airstrip. The strip was created, at a cost of $40, by a local cattleman who wanted easy access to fishing. It was dug by mules using a Fresno scraper that they had previously packed into the site. The camp consisted of storage facilities, a pack station, and tents with “refrigeration” (ice) boxes. For a dollar a day, guests could rent a tent and cooking space and bring in their own food and gear. The meadow also housed a Forest Service guard station, which remains, and was served by a U.S. Air Force telephone line. This line ran across the plateau and down into the Templeton area. The route of the line can be traced by looking for discarded wire, and conductors are visible in the trees. The line was used for emergency rescue and for support for snow-survey activities. There are still several good sites available for use by campers. There is an oddly “urban” feel to fishing in this place, but the trout respond as you would expect in a wilderness setting.
Although still a brilliant yellow, the trout of the South Fork are a bit more muted than those of Golden Trout Creek, and their spots are more prominent. In Tunnel Meadow, the South Fork of the Kern is more of a freestone creek than its Golden Trout neighbor, flowing over a graveled bottom broken up by large boulders that form a series of pockets with the occasional larger pool. At the end of Tunnel Meadow, the river takes a left-hand turn and drops about a third of a mile into a canyon, which delivers it to the head of Ramshaw Meadows. Ramshaw is separated from Templeton Meadows by a low ridge. Both are surrounded by pine forests that offer many good options for an overnight stay. Except for a short section of pocket water were the river pierces the ridge dividing the meadows, the river moves relatively slowly through a series of undercut curves that are interspersed with short riffles. Again, this is the place for the dry-fly caster, especially at the height of the summer, when the flat plains are alive with grasshoppers.
Unfortunately, when I first saw them, Ramshaw and Templeton Meadows exhibited the effects of a long period of overgrazing. Many of the banks still are broken down, and you can see where streamside vegetation had been trampled. The good news is that you also can now see the positive results of restoration along the river. Fencing is in place, and grazing is more tightly managed and restricted. The river channel has become better defined, willow growth has started to return to its banks, and attractive spawning beds are beginning to appear.
At the end of Templeton Meadows, the South Fork flows over the Templeton fish barrier, which is key for protecting the golden trout fishery. It is a 10-foot vertical wall located at the point where the stream leaves the meadow and starts down a canyon. The idea is to prevent the upstream movement of trout that are not goldens, and you can measure it effectiveness by walking downstream to fish the first few pools below the wall. My wife and I fished down for about a hundred yards and caught brown and rainbow trout, some of which were a foot or so in size. Almost all were considerably larger than the golden trout we had taken upstream from the barrier. It was easy to see why they would be such a invasive, destructive force if not for the barrier.
To return to Horseshoe Meadows, follow the north bank of the river at the Ramshaw end of the meadows until you find the Mulkey Pass Trail junction, which will leave the meadow to the north (left). This trail climbs a low ridge into the drainage of Mulkey Creek and up to the origins of the South Fork Kern. A 6.9-mile walk brings you to the east end of Bullfrog Meadows and a junction with the trail that leads to Trail Pass and Mulkey Pass.
Mulkey Creek and the South Fork are tiny little streams here and contain populations of small golden trout. After another 2.3 miles, the trail splits at the PCT. The left fork crosses the crest at Trail Pass and retraces the route back to the trailhead, a distance of 2.0 miles. The Mulkey Pass Trail alternative is 300 feet lower than Trail Pass and does not involve switchbacks to lead 2.9 miles to the parking area. Either way, this is not a particularly taxing crest crossing.
It is no accident that Horseshoe Meadows has a long history as an entry point for human use of the southern Sierra. Indigenous peoples used trails that originate at Horseshoe Meadows as trading routes and to access their summer camps. The sharp-eyed hiker can see evidence of these in the meadows of both Golden Trout Creek and the South Fork of the Kern. If you locate such a site, feel the sense of history, observe it with respect, and leave it alone. In more recent times, Horseshoe Meadows was the start of trans-Sierra trails to Mineral King and the Kaweah River that were used for trading, exploration, and stock drives to summer pastures. Now the ease of access to the heart of the high-Sierra wilderness and the cradle of one of the most beautiful species of trout in the world makes Horseshoe Meadows the ideal jumping off point for a memorable wilderness fly fishing experience.
California’s State Fish
The Golden Trout Wilderness gets its name from California’s state fish and is the historic natural range of this most beautiful of trout. Fish scientists recognize two subspecies as having evolved in the tributaries of the Kern. The subspecies of particular relevance to this article is the aptly named Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita, which is native to the South Fork of the Kern River and to Golden Trout Creek. The origin of the name aguabonita — “good water” — is self-evident. The other subspecies, Oncorhynchus mykiss whitei, is found in the Little Kern River.
Although the golden trout of the South Fork of the Kern and of Golden Trout Creek have minor genetic differences thanks to a ridge that separates the two drainages, these differences are not significant enough to require that each stream’s goldens be classified as separate subspecies. At any rate, the separation between these two streams was ended in the late 1800s when an enterprising “farmer” constructed a now-collapsed tunnel that diverted flow from the larger Golden Trout Creek into the South Fork at Tunnel Meadow. The water was used to irrigate the meadow in order to grow crops, particularly potatoes, which would be sold to area miners. Unfortunately for the enterprise, temperatures at 9,000 feet proved inhospitable to vegetable farming, and the project ended in failure. Even more unfortunately, the trout from the two streams intermixed, causing hybridization of most of both populations. Further hybridization has occurred due to the presence of rainbow trout, which arrived on the scene by moving upstream in the South Fork of the Kern and as a consequence of stocking errors. There is an ongoing effort to locate and preserve isolated remaining populations of the pure stock of both species of goldens. This project is being undertaken by California Trout and the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Information about it and about any angling restrictions can be found on their Web sites.
In the 1960s, the golden trout population in the South Fork of the Kern was in a critical state of decline as a result of the effects of excessive grazing and the advancement of voracious invasive brown and occasional rainbow trout as far upstream as the Tunnel Meadow guard station. An ambitious and, to date, largely successful program of restoration of the South Fork golden trout fishery was initiated by the what is now known as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Inyo National Forest. The program isolated golden trout, while the brown trout were removed as far downstream as the bottom of Templeton Meadows. A series of fish barriers were installed to prevent the return of the invasive species. At the same time, grazing practices were tightened and grazing removed from sections of the river. A paper entitled “Restoration of the California Golden Trout in the South Fork of the Kern River, Kern Plateau” by Bishop legend Phil Pister, provides a very interesting description and history of this project. Thanks to the foresight and endless hard work of Mr. Pister and others involved in this long effort, the South Fork population is now far more secure for the enjoyment of grateful anglers.
— Peter Pumphrey
