The golden trout is commonly found at elevations from to above sea level, and is native to California's southern Sierra Nevada mountains. Outside of its native range in California, Golden trout are more often found in cirques and creeks in wilderness areas around 10,500–12,000"+, often beyond 12,500"+ passes that are not passable without crampons, ice axes, and ropes until after the Fourth of July. Their preferred water temperature is but they can tolerate temperatures in degraded streams on the Kern Plateau as high as so long as those waters cool during the night. The only other species of fish indigenous to the native range of California golden trout is the Sacramento sucker ("Catostomus occidentalis occidentalis").