The Upper Owens is a meandering high-desert meadow river feeding into Crowley, and it carries one of the Eastern Sierra's worst-kept secrets: big lake-run browns and rainbows that run up out of the reservoir to spawn and feed. It's a year-round fishery with easy access and genuine quality, fishable with nymphs, streamers and — when the fish are looking up — dries over rising trout in the undercut meadow bends. A word on ethics: those big migratory fish are often on or near redds, and standing on a spawning bed to chase a hen is bad form and bad for the river. Fish the runs and holding water, leave the spawners be, and the Upper Owens stays the quiet gem it is.

• Volcanic

• Aquatic life: Not assessed
• Recreation: Impaired