The Little Kern River is a major tributary of the upper

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 ...

in the

Sequoia National Forest Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundar ...

, 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 ...

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 one of three streams, along with Volcano Creek and

Golden Trout Creek Golden Trout Creek is an approximately long tributary of the Kern River, flowing in northeastern Tulare County, California. The creek drains an area of the High Sierra Nevada in the Inyo National Forest. Volcano Creek is a tributary of it. Cou ...

, that harbor beautiful

golden trout The California golden trout (''Oncorhynchus aguabonita or Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita''), is a species of trout native to California. The golden trout is normally found in the Golden Trout Creek (tributary to the Kern River), Volcano Creek (tr ...

(''Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita'').

Watershed and Course

The Little Kern River drains approximately of wilderness, all of it in

Tulare County Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. ...

. The Little Kern begins at Bullfrog Lakes, in the

Golden Trout Wilderness The Golden Trout Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area in the Sierra Nevada, in Tulare County and Inyo County, California. It is located east of Porterville within Inyo National Forest and Sequoia National Forest. It is in siz ...

south of Farewell Gap near

Mineral King Mineral King is a subalpine glacial valley located in the southern part of Sequoia National Park, in the U.S. state of California. The valley lies at the headwaters of the East Fork of the Kaweah River, which rises at the eastern part of the vall ...

. It flows south, past Table Meadow and Burnt Corral Meadows, then enters a deep gorge before it joins with the Kern River at Forks of the Kern. The Little Kern roughly defines the southwest boundary of the

Great Western Divide The Great Western Divide is a Sierra Nevada mountain range that forms part of the border between the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Some of the summits of the Great Western Divide reach well over . The High Sierra Trail crosses the ra ...

; the confluence with the main Kern (which flows to the east of the range) marks the southernmost tip of the range. Forks of the Kern is located about upstream of

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 ...

Ecology

Major efforts were made since the 1960s to create refuge areas for golden trout in the upper reaches of the South Fork Kern River. Three barriers were built (Ramshaw, Templeton, and Schaeffer) and a piscicide was applied to the river to kill all non-native fish above or between these barriers. From 1969 through 2000, 10 chemical treatments were performed, with varying degrees of success.

References

{{reflist, 2 Rivers of Tulare County, California