California's Thousand Island Lake

In The New York Times, Bill Becher notes that getting to the places where golden trout thrive usually requires either strong legs or a good horse. “Describing golden trout — California’s official fresh-water fish — requires reference to the colors on a painter’s palette. The trouts’ bellies are brilliant cadmium yellow shading to orange, their midsections are marked with a slash of vermilion, and their backs are speckled with burnt-umber dots. Rainbow and brook trout also thrive at sea level, but golden trout are generally found in waters above 7,000 feet in the Sierra.”