Lake Kaweah

Lake Kaweah is fed by the Kaweah River, which originates in the Sierra Nevada at Sequoia National Park. Long age, Yokuts, Wukchumne, and Kaweah people lived and hunted along this river. Spaniards were the first Europeans to explore this area two centuries ago. Settlers arrived fifty years later. Cattleman Hale Tharp started a ranch at the confluence of the Kaweah River and Deer Creek in 1856. He lived here until his death in 1912. Several landmarks still bear his name.

Lake Kaweah, located in the foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada, was formed by the construction of Terminus Dam. Completed in 1962 for the purpose of flood control and water conservation, the dam stores 143,000 acre-feet of water during the annual run-off season. Energy production was added in 1990 with the construction of the Terminus Power Plant. The new hydroelectric plant produces an average of 40 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which is equivalent to the energy from 67,000 barrels of oil.

The Kaweah River is located in the foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada Range of California along Highway 198 at the southern entrance to Sequoia National Park. The River passes through the small town of Three Rivers and ends up in Lake Kaweah (Terminus Reservoir). It's one of the shortest drainages in the US from its headwaters at 12,000 feet to Lake Kaweah. The Kaweah River, like its neighbors the Kings, Tule and Kern, never sees the Pacific Ocean. Instead, it splits into many channels upon entering the San Joaquin Valley below Lake Kaweah and is mostly consumed by irrigation. What's left, if any, ends up in Tulare Lake.

Crystal Cave is among the most beautiful of the nearly 100 marble solution caves in the parks. Among readily accessible caves in this region, it offers relatively undisturbed formations. Other larger caves in southern California, Lilburn and Church caves, are not readily accessible. Crystal Cave's estimated 10,000 feet of passageways occur in a formation of limestone that has metamorphosed under tremendous heat and pressure into marble. Crystal Cave is maze-like in character. Marble Hall measures 175 feet long, 60 feet wide, and is 30 to 40 feet high in the area that visitors tour. Regular cave tours are operated in summer for a fee by the nonprofit Sequoia Natural History Association. Tours last 50 minutes and cover 1/2 mile via a loop trail, including the popular Organ Room and Dome Room formations. Tour leaders explain the geology and biology of the cave. It is a steep half-mile walk one way from the parking lot to the cave entrance. The trail is not recommended for persons in poor physical condition.

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