Kern River

Headwaters of the Kern River

The Kern River is an approximately 264 km long river in the U.S. state of California. It drains a portion of the southern Sierra Nevada northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by the melt water in the vicinity of Mount Whitney, the river passes scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for rafting and kayaking dar. He is the only major river in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, which drains them in a southerly direction.

The Kern River flowed past fully into the now dry lake Buena Vista Lake at the southern end of California's Central Valley. Currently, the river is diverted, however, almost entirely for irrigation purposes and used for groundwater supply as well as the California Aqueduct. Thus, only a small portion of the original amount of water in the Lake Webb and Lake Evans, two small lakes enters a section of the former Buena Vista Lake, which were created in 1973 for recreational purposes.

River course

The Kern River is the widest river in the south located in the San Joaquin Valley. It rises in the Sierra Nevada in eastern Tulare County and ends in western Kern County, where it is derived predominantly for irrigation purposes. His two arms source, North Fork Kern River and South Fork Kern River, unite in the 1953 made ​​reservoir, Lake Isabella.

The main branch ( main branch ) of the river (also called the North Fork Kern River ) west of Mount Whitney is fed by several small lakes in the northeast corner of Sequoia National Park. From there it flows south through the mountains, passing through the Inyo National Forest and Sequoia National Forest, as well as the Golden Trout Wilderness. At one point, called the Forks of the Kern, he takes on the northwest upcoming Little Kern River. In Kernville the river leaves its narrow canyon and flows in a wide valley in the Lake Isabella. The area was once known as Whiskey Flat, the former location of the town Kernville.

Just like the North Fork springs and the South Fork Kern River in Tulare County and flows mainly in a southerly direction through the Inyo National Forest. After reaching the South Fork Kern County changes its direction to the west until it finally flows into Lake Isabelle.

After leaving the reservoir through the Isabella Dam the Kern River flows southwest through spectacular canyons along the southern edge of the Greenhorn Mountains, until he leaves the mountains east of Bakersfield. In the lower reaches of the river after passing Bakersfield its water is removed to a large extent on a series of canals to irrigate the southern San Joaquin Valley, as well as for drinking water supply to the Greater Bakersfield. In the region of Bakersfield, the Kern River spread out earlier in a large marshland with temporary lakes.

The Friant - core Canal built under the Central Valley Project ( CVP), the river flows approximately 6 km west to the center of Bakersfield.

The Kern River is one of the few rivers in the Central Valley, the Central Valley Project contributes no water. However, the water of the CVP, mainly the Friant -core channel, used for groundwater recharge.