California's Kern River and The 2023 Snow Melt

Join us in this video showing key features of the Kern River stretching 195 miles from the west slope of Mount Whitney in Sequoia National Park to the south shore of the bed of Tulare Lake. Topics include the record 2023 snow pack, FEMA flood maps, the Kern River’s “Wild and Scenic” designation, Lake Isabella, Father Garces, Edward Kern, Yokuts tribes, the “Killer Kern”, five irrigation canal weirs across the City of Bakersfield, the Pioneer Canal, the Cross Valley Canal, groundwater recharge ponds, the Kern Water Bank, Buena Vista Lake, Kern Lake, the extinct thick tail chub, and the Kern River flood canal. Time will tell if the record 2023 snow melt enables the Kern River to flow into Tulare Lake.

Chapters:

Map of entire 195 miles of the Kern River: 00:20 – 1:39
Mount Whitney: 1:40 – 2:02
Map and images of record 2023 California snowpack: 2:03 – 2:21
Kern River Watershed: 2:22 – 2:34
USGS water level gauges and 2023 snow melt acceleration: 2:35 – 3:05
Lake Isabella and Isabella Dam: 3:06 – 4:19
Kern Canyon and the “Killer Kern”: 4:20 – 5:44
“Wild and Scenic” river designation: 5:45 – 6:13
Francisco Garces, John Fremont, and river names: 6:14 – 7:32
Carrier Canal Weir and FEMA flood map: 7:33 – 8:49
Calloway Canal Weir and FEMA flood map: 8:50 – 9:44
Yokuts Park: 9:45 – 10:12
Old River, New River, and the floods of 1862 and 1867: 10:13 – 11:00
Map of Buena Vista Lake and Kern Lake: 11:01 – 11:21
Coffee Road Weir and FEMA flood map: 11:22 – 12:23
Bellevue Weir, FEMA flood map, and 1911 fish run: 12:24 – 14:00
Pioneer, Cross Valley, and Rio Bravo Canals: 14:01 – 15:51
McClung Weir and Groundwater Recharge Ponds: 15:52 – 17:58
Reclaimed Swampland on the west side of the valley: 17:59 – 18:51
1938 boat trip from Bakersfield to the San Francisco Bay: 18:52 – 19:08
1969 boat trip from Bakersfield to the San Francisco Bay: 19:09 – 19:16
1983 boat trip from Bakersfield to the San Francisco Bay: 19:17 – 19:24
Buena Vista Aquatic Recreation Area: 19:25 – 19:48
Kern River flood canal and Tulare Lake: 19:49 – 21:14

[thebrhinocerous]

Thank you for putting this together. While I know some of this, I don't know all of it. I just rode my motorcycle over the the aqueduct at Taft Highway, and I saw all of the water from the end of the Kern and wondered where it goes if it gets to be too much, and now I know. This is a great year for us nerds who find all of this type of stuff extremely interesting, and I'm grateful that folks like you put these videos together for us.

[MSTRHYDE]

I'm sure most of us have already absorbed most of this info. That being said, I'd gladly watch this over and over. You do such a great job on your presentation and have not failed to deliver fantastic information.

[billrimmer]

What I really appreciate about this vid is all the great pictures, videos and research that went into this production. Fascinating!!

[jasonmichaeljimenez]

This is a really great video, I very much enjoyed it. Thank you.

[ericfielding]

Thanks for the tour of the Kern River on May 1, 2023 and the detailed background. I hope you can get back there when the snow melt is even higher and we can see the Isabella spillway at full flow.

[eventtrading]

As a 50 Year Cali transplant, I can't get enough of such informative vids such as this. Wonderful work! I have loved this place since I stepped off that plane in LA surrounded by the snow capped San Gabriels. This was a year for the record books and the melt will be most interesting. I reside just off the Gold River in Fair Oaks.

[travisbruce]

Growing up in Oildale I spent so much of my youth in all parts of this river and canals. I enjoyed this video.

[BUDMAN]

I lived in Lake Isabella in 94-95 and they had a big problem with flooding and the lake flowed over the spillway. It was still rising and was warning Bakersfield of a possible dam failure if the incoming flow didn't subside . It eventually did slow enough but I'm pretty sure that event is what spurred the new improvements on the dam and spillway. Luck for them, there was many years of low flow right after that that allowed them to drain the lake for repairs. I went back there to go camping a few years back and the lake was almost completely little water left. And from watching another Youtube channel I found out that it didn't really start filling till this year and is now full. Crazy!!! And this years aftermath near the Kernville Inn ...near the inlet of the lake was unlike what I witnessed in 94-95 when I worked there. The water never came that close to the road when I was there and the little trailer camping area didn't flood like it did this time. I think they will be using both spillways before this is over and the farms of Tulare will be swamp land. Almost makes me miss California. Moved to Az for work in 96

[sandiegofun]

This is extremely informative. Thanks much!!

[notbobthebuilder]

Great piece and well put together.

The killer kern is no joke as a kern resident we dont go into that river.

I couldnt imagine what it looks like right now at 7500 cfs!

[michellewelch]

Great piece, I never knew the Kern River was so long!

[johnhobbs]

New sub here glad I found you if I remember correctly the Kern River was one of the original locations 4 golden trout thank you very much for the excellent video😊

[kayakchrispy]

I was wondering about aquifer recharge and you detailed recharging ponds and answered my query

[misspattifromcali.]

👍great video!! I live in Lake Isabella, right behind the damn. I can hear the work being done. Ty for this very informative content!! The footage is beautiful!!

[ArleneWissmann]

Very interesting, I never realized the history and geography the kern river has. Thank you for sharing.

[alcohol]

Thank you for your hard work on this report your research.

[ginkodragon]

I grew up in SoCal, but didnt know most of this stuff, except that tge Kern River was dangerous. Thank you for this information! It was very interesting!

[rodneybiltman]

Great info. Wow, kayaking from Bakersfield to the Bay is amazing!

[tedthoman]

Excellent commentary & narration !

[kevinvanderlei]

Great video, very informative, thank you for sharing.