I don't expect to find many landscapes in California that make me shout "Hallelujah!"--it's just a prejudice of mine.
But John and I took a drive up the Kern River Canyon yesterday, and the rounded granite outcrops and boulders towering above our heads were breathtaking.
Dramatic signs at the entrance to the canyon warn drivers about the danger of swimming or rafting in the river::
"Kern River - 257 lives lost since 1968. Think safety."
That's not counting lives lost on the highway that twists above the stream and below the towering rock formations: "Do not pass - next 14 miles."
Photographer Casey Christie of the Bakersfield Californian took photos of boulders that closed the highway in December 2010.
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/local/x1680088508/Highway-178-through-canyon-to-be-closed-at-least-a-week
His article "The Road Warror" describes his daily commute since 1983 through this canyon (Feb. 19, 2012, p. D1). He recounts cows on the road at night, rocks through windshields, and drivers who go over the edge into the river. Unfortunately, that article is not online.
At Lake Isabella, formed by an earthen dam, we found a barren landscape scoured by cold wind.
Right through the middle of the dam traverses the Kern River Fault, so water in the lake is kept low these days. In case of an earthquake, water will still flood the small community lying just west of the dam.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/science/22dam.html?scp=1&sq=aging%20dams%20february%202011&st=cse
My family lived in Bakersfield from 1961 to 1966, but I don't recall any family excursions up to see this canyon and reservoir.
Why not? Were my parents too tired on weekends to plan excursions?
Or was it our Colorado snobbery? My father had grown up next to Boulder Canyon, my mother in Telluride, the box canyon where the San Miguel River ends.
Perhaps they didn't think the Kern River could have much of a canyon worth seeing.
They were wrong.
But John and I took a drive up the Kern River Canyon yesterday, and the rounded granite outcrops and boulders towering above our heads were breathtaking.
Dramatic signs at the entrance to the canyon warn drivers about the danger of swimming or rafting in the river::
"Kern River - 257 lives lost since 1968. Think safety."
That's not counting lives lost on the highway that twists above the stream and below the towering rock formations: "Do not pass - next 14 miles."
Photographer Casey Christie of the Bakersfield Californian took photos of boulders that closed the highway in December 2010.
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/local/x1680088508/Highway-178-through-canyon-to-be-closed-at-least-a-week
His article "The Road Warror" describes his daily commute since 1983 through this canyon (Feb. 19, 2012, p. D1). He recounts cows on the road at night, rocks through windshields, and drivers who go over the edge into the river. Unfortunately, that article is not online.
At Lake Isabella, formed by an earthen dam, we found a barren landscape scoured by cold wind.
Right through the middle of the dam traverses the Kern River Fault, so water in the lake is kept low these days. In case of an earthquake, water will still flood the small community lying just west of the dam.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/science/22dam.html?scp=1&sq=aging%20dams%20february%202011&st=cse
My family lived in Bakersfield from 1961 to 1966, but I don't recall any family excursions up to see this canyon and reservoir.
Why not? Were my parents too tired on weekends to plan excursions?
Or was it our Colorado snobbery? My father had grown up next to Boulder Canyon, my mother in Telluride, the box canyon where the San Miguel River ends.
Perhaps they didn't think the Kern River could have much of a canyon worth seeing.
They were wrong.
