North America/United States of America/California/Greenacres/Kern River/

Kern River

• Location & Contact Information
  • Address: Highway 178 Bakersfield CA USA
  • Telephone Number: +
  • Official Website: []
• Overview

Kern River is a river in the U.S. state of California, approximately 164mi long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for whitewater rafting and kayaking. It is the only major river in the Sierra Nevada mountain range that drains in a southerly direction.The Kern River formerly emptied entirely into now dry Buena Vista Lake at the southern end of the Central Valley. The river has been almost entirely diverted for irrigation, recharging aquifers and the California Aqueduct, although some water empties into Lake Webb and Lake Evans, two small lakes in a portion of the former Buena Vista Lakebed. The lakes were created in 1973 for recreational use. The lakes hold combined. Crops are grown in the rest of the former lakebed. In extremely wet years the river will reach the Tulare Lake basin through a series of sloughs and flood channels.