Hidden Lake
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 3:49 pm
Oh, THAT Hidden Lake. How embarrassing. Right in my own backyard (sort of). I've actually skied by it, but never hiked to it. I've also clopped nearby on a horse during hunting season, but that's no way to see anything... .
As a side note, the fish trapped there (and the entire drainage of the Little Kern) were trapped to restore a pure strain of the Golden Trout (replace the existing hybridized strain and provide several locations of pure...) and had nothing to do with frogs. Only that lake might have become YLF habitat but only if there was a waterfall to keep the fish from coming back. They did gill netting, electroshock and, I think, poison. It was unsuccessful the first time (back in the early 80s??). It may have been repeated with more success about 10 years ago or less.
Going into Too Much Information Mode (which is my default, 'cause I've got this mountain of data sitting here.... and this is, after all, The Campfire) since 1990, there has only been one Mountain Yellow-legged frog sighting in the surrounding 30 square miles. The rest are in the 80s and a few up to 1990. (These are ones actually reported to the NPS -- doesn't for sure mean they're gone, but no rangers or biologists have seen any since then).
I've got no explanation for the color of the water. Weird. Should be pristine as you first saw it. Maybe it had some sort of algal bloom late season or something. Very rarely a trespass cow will get in there.
A good place to put a plug in for people here to send in wildlife observations to the NPS (Yoesmite or Sequoia Kings). The USFS doesn't have a very good database in place. However, if you see a Mountain or Foothill Yellow-legged anywhere, send me an email and I'll forward the obs. to the agency that needs it (or Roland Knapp of the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Lab).
Thanks for the map too!
George
As a side note, the fish trapped there (and the entire drainage of the Little Kern) were trapped to restore a pure strain of the Golden Trout (replace the existing hybridized strain and provide several locations of pure...) and had nothing to do with frogs. Only that lake might have become YLF habitat but only if there was a waterfall to keep the fish from coming back. They did gill netting, electroshock and, I think, poison. It was unsuccessful the first time (back in the early 80s??). It may have been repeated with more success about 10 years ago or less.
Going into Too Much Information Mode (which is my default, 'cause I've got this mountain of data sitting here.... and this is, after all, The Campfire) since 1990, there has only been one Mountain Yellow-legged frog sighting in the surrounding 30 square miles. The rest are in the 80s and a few up to 1990. (These are ones actually reported to the NPS -- doesn't for sure mean they're gone, but no rangers or biologists have seen any since then).
I've got no explanation for the color of the water. Weird. Should be pristine as you first saw it. Maybe it had some sort of algal bloom late season or something. Very rarely a trespass cow will get in there.
A good place to put a plug in for people here to send in wildlife observations to the NPS (Yoesmite or Sequoia Kings). The USFS doesn't have a very good database in place. However, if you see a Mountain or Foothill Yellow-legged anywhere, send me an email and I'll forward the obs. to the agency that needs it (or Roland Knapp of the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Lab).
Thanks for the map too!
George
