At the risk of sounding arrogant, I have to say that I have one of the coolest jobs in the world. I work as the science writer for CIRES, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. My job doesn't stop at writing about science. Being a photographer and multimedia producer play equal parts.

In this instance, I got to hit the trail with Jimmy McCutchan and Tommy Detmer, a couple of CIRES scientists, studying the effects of fish introductions on formerly fishless lakes of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Fish were introduced to support fly fishing from the 1800s until the 1960s. Now the National Park Service is working with CIRES to find out what's happened to those lakes, knowledge that may help guide future management.

Their study also isn't a bad way to work a little fly fishing into your science.