Visit to Lake Kaweah Dam

It had been raining since Thursday and knew if we went into the park we would be miserable - temperatures in the mid 40's, snowing off and on, couldn't see anything (they said Saturday there was so much fog that you could not see the top of Sherman's Tree or Grant's Tree).  By Sunday we were stir crazy so we drove to the Lake Kaweah Dam.

Pretty, see road hugging on right side?  

We passed Lake Kaweah (native American for Crow Calls and pronounced Kah - wee - ah)) when we came to Three Rivers and we were impressed at how large it is. The road to Three Rivers winds around the lake for 6 miles.  Every day I look at the news on my phone and I get local news.  What caught my eye was an article that the hydraulic pump failed inside the tower of the dam, causing round the clock repairs.  It said that the reservouir was rising a foot a day. A foot a day! T here is a back up release valve that only allows 2/3 of the normal flow to get out and down into the valley below.  The water feeds  the Tulare County folks - agriculture and farming.  There was a visitors center there, so we decided to visit it.

Inside tower are divers trying to fix leak 

Marina, mostly houseboats, see tower/dam in background

Cement spillway breaks away (sacrifices self) if water comes over dam

Backside of dam, from a photo

The trees that had been half underwater were almost totally submerged.  I bet when we leave here Friday that those trees will be 100% under.

Fascinating to see the marina below the visitors center, free floating, moving gradually back and forth.  So many houseboats.  You could rent them by the hour or day.  The walking paths around the reservoir were under water so we could not do any hiking.  Even found out the campground at the eastern end will loose all sites except 4 within the next week.  Was overcast and we could not see the Sierra Nevada Mountains like we could on a clear day.

Cute little houseboat for rent

We learned that for the past 4 years, with the severe draught that California has seen, that the reservoir has only been at 30% capacity.  This year, even though the winter was mild and not as much snow in the mountains as there should be, the reservoir will fill up to 100% (maybe more if repairs aren't done soon) and it will be the first time in 6 years that the water has been that high.  We have seen rain for the past 5 days which is very unusual for the area which is not helping the rising water.

After visiting the dam we drove into Visalia, a town of about 35,000 people.  One small town we drove through after Lake Kaweah was Lemon Cove.  Row after row after row of orange trees, lemon trees, and olive trees.  Amazing.

Lemon Hill in background, row after row of citrus trees