Kaweah River

Today’s work took us up into the Sierra Nevada Mountains to a small town called Three Rivers located about three miles from the entrance to Sequoia National Park.  It was a beautiful drive and we now know that what looked like dirty snow from a distance is in reality bare rock summits in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

The road going east from Tulare on Highway 168 winds gently up through golden hills that are peppered with dark granite boulders in multiple sizes and shapes.  The highway passes a reservoir called Lake Kaweah, which serves as a recreational area near a small town called Lemon Cove.  The word Kaweah translates as “raven” in the local Native American tribe’s language and indeed the park owners told us ravens are prevalent in the area.  The dam prevents floods downstream and thus the lake is kept at a very low level year round to accommodate rainy periods rather than being low from lack of rain as we initially presumed.  Boats, campers and swimmers were all enjoying the water as we passed provided by the Kaweah River.

 We elected not to travel into Sequoia National Park when we finished our job at 3:30 pm because it is a 45-minute drive to the trees from the park’s entrance.  It would have been too late to really enjoy the park.  Maybe we will drive up there on the next trip.  With the heat, we were also tired out after walking through three parks.  One of the parks we saw had a beautiful swimming hole on the Kaweah River I could have easily enjoyed wading into waist deep.  The water was delightful on my toes and I saw a huge tadpole in the water at the edge of my shoes.  A lawn chair, good book and dangling your feet in the water would be a fine way to pass an afternoon here.

We had lunch in the little town of Three Rivers.  We went to a place called Sierra Subs and Salads and it was absolutely delicious.  I had a salad wrap containing romaine and baby greens, garbanzo beans, mini-corn, cucumber, avocado, tomato, black olives and artichoke hearts all chopped and tossed with some balsamic vinaigrette dressing and wrapped in a flour tortilla.  Awesome!  I want to remember the combination so I can make it myself.  We sat out by the river listening to it run over river rocks for a beautiful and healthy lunch experience.