The Kern River Canyon is a

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

Kern County Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is located in the Southern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

. The canyon was formed by the

Kern River The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfiel ...

, and connects the

Kern River Valley The Kern River Valley is a valley and region of the Southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California, Kern County, California. History The valley was inhabited for millennia by the indigenous Tübatulabal and Kawaiisu peo ...

and southern

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...

.Lee, Charles. ''An Intensive Study of the Water Resources of a Part of the Owens Valley, California''. United States Geological Survey - United States Department of the Interior. Government Printing Office. 1912. Page 49.

California State Route 178 State Route 178 (SR 178) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that exists in two constructed segments. The gap in between segments is connected by various local roads and State Route 190 through Death Valley National Park. The west ...

(Kern Canyon Road) follows the canyon, from east of

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

up to the

Lake Isabella Lake Isabella also called Isabella Lake, is a reservoir in Kern County, California, United States created by the earthen Isabella Dam. It was formed in 1953 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed the Kern River at the junction of its two f ...

area.

References

Canyons and gorges of California Kern River Landforms of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Landforms of Kern County, California Kern River Valley {{KernCountyCA-geo-stub