The Kern begins in the Sierra Nevada in
Sequoia National Park in northeastern Tulare County, near the border with
Inyo County. The main branch of the river (sometimes called the North Fork Kern River) rises from several small lakes in a basin northwest of
Mount Whitney. The headwaters are surrounded by the
Great Western Divide to the west, the Kings-Kern Divide to the north and the main
Sierra Crest to the east, all of which have multiple peaks above . After deviating briefly from its due south course as it flows east around Hockett Peak, it is joined by the
Little Kern River from the northwest at a site called Forks of the Kern. Below there, the Kern River continues south, and is joined by more tributaries including Peppermint Creek, South Creek, Brush Creek, and Salmon Creek, which all form large waterfalls as they tumble into the Kern River canyon. At
Kernville the river emerges from its narrow canyon into a wide valley where it is impounded in
Lake Isabella, formed by
Isabella Dam. The area was once known as Whiskey Flat, the former location of the town of Kernville. In Lake Isabella, it is joined by its largest tributary, the
South Fork Kern River, which drains a high plateau area to the east of the North Fork drainage. The South Fork rises in Tulare County and flows south through Inyo National Forest, turning west after entering Kern County. Below Isabella Dam the Kern River flows southwest in a rugged canyon along the south edge of the
Greenhorn Mountains, parallel to
SR 178. A number of hot springs (
Scovern,
Miracle,
Remington,
Delonegha,
Democrat) are located along this section of the river. With a descent of between Isabella Dam and Bakersfield, this section of the Kern River feeds several hydroelectric plants and is also a popular whitewater run. Due to upstream dam releases for irrigation and power generation, this part of the river has a swift flow even in the driest summers. The river then flows through a winding valley in the Sierra foothills before entering the San Joaquin Valley at
Bakersfield, the largest city on the river. In Bakersfield proper, most of the river's flow is diverted into various canals for agricultural use in the southern San Joaquin Valley, and provide municipal water supplies to the City of Bakersfield and surrounding areas. Diverting the river's flow has left of the riverbed that runs through Bakersfield dry. This fertile region is a large alluvial plain, or inland delta, formed by the Kern River, which once spread out into vast wetlands and seasonal lakes. The
Friant-Kern Canal, constructed as part of the Central Valley Project, joins the Kern about west of downtown Bakersfield, restoring some flow to the river. The river channel continues about southwest to a point near the
California Aqueduct on the western side of the San Joaquin Valley. A weir allows excess floodwaters from the Kern to drain into the California Aqueduct, while any remaining water continues south into the seasonal
Buena Vista Lake, which once reached sizes of about in wet periods. Historically, a
distributary of the Kern split off above Bakersfield and flowed south to what is now
Arvin, where it formed the seasonal Kern Lake, which would grow to cover about during wet periods. Water from Kern Lake would then flow west through Buena Vista Slough into Buena Vista Lake. In periods of extremely high runoff, Buena Vista Lake overflowed and joined other wetlands and seasonal lakes in a series of sloughs that drained north into the former
Tulare Lake, which would sometimes overflow into the
San Joaquin River via
Fresno Slough. The Kern River is one of the very few rivers in the Central Valley which does not contribute water to the
Central Valley Project (CVP). However, water from the CVP, mainly the Friant-Kern Canal, will be deposited for water storage in the aquifers. ==History==