20240630 Colorado Greenback Cutthroat Trout RMNP Fern Lake

A barely edited (quick grabs of several cuts) video of some Colorado Greenback Cutthroat Trout that I encountered as I crossed over the bridge at the outlet to Fern Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. As I videoed myself crossing the bridge, about half-way across I realized, oh wow, there's dozens of trout darting around below me!
I filmed the fish that were close to the bridge, trying to avoid glare, but there were dozens more in the outlet area of the lake (and the rest of the lake). The reason for there being only this native species, I believe is because Fern Falls stops any competing invasive European trout species from migrating up Fern Creek to Fern Lake and Odessa Lake.
I'm grateful to have gotten to see so many beautiful, Federally Threatened trout specimens! *The largest specimen was 16-18" long (as big as the species gets)! I was happy to see so many repopulating the lake after the surrounding fire.
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