Humphries Basin, California

One of my favorite places is Humphries Basin, a cluster of alpine lakes east of Bishop. Ranging between eleven and twelve thousand feet in elevation, these glacially scraped lakes and their connecting streams host spectacularly colored golden trout. You must be sneaky but they can be caught with flies and finesse. Once in this area you can fish ten different lakes in a day if you wish. This lake is not the best in the area for fishing, but it holds a panoramic view of the high peaks of the Glacier Divide of the central sierra. I enjoyed it most at dawn while it was still too cold for watercolors, then painted as the day and I grew warmer.