Touch Grass: Zimmerman Lake
For the drone footage of this location, scroll to the bottom for a video! For more photos and videos, check out our Instagram and YouTube, both @chinookdroneco.
My goal for the year - among many others - was to learn to fish. I am so new to fishing that I had to watch a dozen YouTube videos before I could even go shopping for gear. What pole should I buy, what fishing line, what hooks catch which fish, why are there so many options for every little thing… you get it. After a couple of quick lessons from my uncle and making a small investment in some cheap gear from Walmart, I decided to get started by going somewhere that excited me. There’s nothing like learning in the moment, so for my first chapter in this Touch Grass series, I wanted to try some of the higher altitude lakes in the Poudre Canyon. It had been a while since I made the trek up to the Cameron Pass area (mostly due to the heavy wildfire activity in recent years - keep an eye out for an upcoming post about the status of the Cameron Peak burn scar), and I had nearly forgotten what a scenic and wild place it is.
the hike
The hike up to Zimmerman Lake is a 1.25 mile out-and-back trail. AllTrails will tell you it’s longer with the trail creating a loop around the lake, but even the Forest Service map doesn’t show the trail extending that far. Once you get to the lake, there are lots of small trails around the shoreline, no doubt made by the fishermen/women that came before me. Exploring these trails is highly recommended, but there will be some bushwhacking involved and potentially some muddy boots for the hike back.
AllTrails will also rate this as an “easy” hike. While it is short and you can no doubt get it done in a little over an hour, the trail stays at a consistent moderate pitch for the duration of the hike, with one short section where it gets even steeper. The foliage was beautiful enough to distract me and despite it being steeper than expected, it went by pretty quickly.
Zimmerman Lake - Elev. ~10,500ft from AllTrails
The trail seems to be an old (or maybe still in use?) service road. I wouldn’t want to drive up it, but the nice wide trail made for a great climb. The sides of the trail are covered in young trees and mossy groundcover. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were lots of wildflowers in the springtime.
At the top of the climb, you’re immediately greeted by a small lake with a rocky backdrop. I had a great time exploring the shoreline. Upon arriving there were only two other fishermen there, and they left shortly after, leaving the lake to myself for some guilt-free drone flying.
the flight
For the drone folks out there, this lake is in a small window sandwiched between two wilderness areas which makes the lake a legal airspace and almost everything else around it off-limits. You can see to the right on the Forest Service map just how close the boundary of the Neota Wilderness is surrounding the lake. Anywhere that is not wilderness area, is Class G airspace AKA Class “Good-to-Go”. It made for some interesting flying because I could not go very far beyond the lake boundaries, but I was still able to get some interesting footage.
Even though it’s legal to fly here, when I’m in a nature setting that most people use for peace and quiet, I like to make sure everyone around knows what’s about to happen and make it as quick as possible. The drone is only audible when it’s flying low (maybe less than 50ft), so there are really only a few shots I was worried about, but with the lake to myself all of those worries evaporated.
It was a perfect day for flying - no wind, nice temps, albeit a little bright. My ND filters for the drone cameras were still in the mail, so you can tell in the footage just how sunny it was that day. BUT the site was so gorgeous and the shoreline was still bright green despite the fall weather creeping in, so I don’t think we missed out on too much without the filters.
the fish
Then I got to do some fishin’. Since I started fishing, the most surprising part has been the amount of wildlife that I’ve seen. Even with the motion of the casting, the animals seem to accept your movement as another part of the forest. In the short time I’ve been fishing, the amount of animals I see has increased tenfold… it’s an unanticipated part of the journey and probably my favorite part about it. Needless to say at the time of this trip, I had not even caught a fish yet, but I was already in love with the practice of fishing.
The main draw of this lake versus others in the area is that Zimmerman is one of a few places in Colorado that you can still catch a greenback cutthroat trout (our state fish). Despite never having caught any fish, I somehow let myself develop this romantic idea of having the state fish be the first fish I caught…
No surprise here - I did not catch a thing. Not a bite.
But as I mentioned, the best part about fishing to me so far has been the places it’s taken me that I wouldn’t have normally gone to, and the peace that I find in those places. To anyone else that wants to try it, I highly recommend this spot. I’m sure a more experienced fisherman going earlier in the day could have a great day of fishing here!
The greenback cutthroat trout was thought to be extinct for decades until a few small breeding populations were discovered in the mid-20th century. In 1973, the greenback was officially listed as an endangered species. Starting in the 80s, Colorado Parks & Wildlife began protecting the remaining wild greenbacks and begin creating their own broodstock in lakes and creeks across the state. In 1995, Zimmerman Lake became home to an important source of broodstock for this program. Since then, CPW has reintroduced the greenbacks to many of their native streams and in recent years there have even been confirmations of these populations reproducing all on their own. For a more comprehensive timeline of the greenback recovery efforts, check out this article from the USFS for historical information and a couple more recent updates from CPW officers here and here.
the footage
And finally some drone footage! Enjoy!
