Of all the places I visited last summer searching for native trout, Cottonwood Creek was one of my favorites. If you drive east out of the town of Lone Pine off Highway 395 toward Whitney Portal you will see a road to the left called Horseshoe Meadows Road. It cuts off Whitney Portal right in the middle of the Alabama hills. The drive out there alone is pretty spectacular. I’m a big fan of the Alabama hills so driving through that area is always cool. After a couple short miles you start up the grade. It’s one of the fastest assents you can do from the valley floor to elevation in the Sierra. Within a few miles you’re up over 10,000 feet! The views are incredible! It’s hard not to stop along the way and check out the scenery. But don’t let it distract you as you’re driving. The hairpin curves are bad enough but there are also large trucks with horse trailers coming up and down every day of the summer.
Once you reach the crest of the steep switch backs you’ll get your first look up into the Cottonwood Creek drainage. Cottonwood Creek drains out of the Golden Trout Wilderness and heads east. It’s a vast and wind-swept landscape nestled high in the Southern Sierra. Cottonwood forms out of the Cottonwood Lakes area and heads almost directly east. When you first see Cottonwood Creek from the road it’s cutting a path down a steep canyon section and into a rapid decent down towards the valley floor. The further up the road you go, the more the gradient softens out and you get into some great cascading pools and even some riffles eventually ending up in a nice long horseshoe shaped meadow where the Horseshoe Meadows trail head starts at the end of the road. There’s a section where the creek flows close to the road for a bit and that can be a great place to jump out and fish. It’s easy to locate this section as the forest was burned a few a few years back and many of the larger trees are still blackened. There’s also a sign at that point that gives the fishing regulations. It’s all catch and release and single, barbless hooks to maintain a healthy fishery. Cottonwood Creek is one of the only places I know where you can drive right up, jump out and catch California Golden Trout. Most fish are going to be in the 6-8” range with maybe the occasional 10 or 12 incher.
Spot Check continued