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. Drained for agricultural development, the site is now in Kings County, which was created in 1893 from the western portion of the formerly larger Tulare County.
Bear Valley Springs is a guarded-gate community in Kern County, California, United States. The unincorporated community is in the Tehachapi Mountains and is part of the greater Tehachapi area. The elevation ranges from 4,121 feet (1,256 m) to 6,934 feet (2,113 m). The population fluctuates between a low during the winter months when snow is common, to a high in the summer months when its elevation keeps it much cooler than surrounding areas and major cities. The population was 5,172 at the 2010 census, up from 4,232 at the 2000 census. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Bear Valley Springs as a census-designated place (CDP). The census definition of the area may not precisely correspond to local understanding of the area with the same name.
Visalia is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 40th most populous in California, and 192nd in the United States. As the county seat of Tulare County, Visalia serves as the economic and governmental center to one of the most productive agricultural counties in the country.
Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California. Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park was greatly expanded and renamed on March 4, 1940. The park's namesake, Kings Canyon, is a rugged glacier-carved valley more than a mile (1,600 m) deep. Other natural features include multiple 14,000-foot (4,300 m) peaks, high mountain meadows, swift-flowing rivers, and some of the world's largest stands of giant sequoia trees. Kings Canyon is north of and contiguous with Sequoia National Park, and both parks are jointly administered by the National Park Service as the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
The Kings River, is a 132.9-mile (213.9 km) river draining the Sierra Nevada mountain range in central California in the United States. Its headwaters originate along the Sierra Crest in and around Kings Canyon National Park and form the eponymous Kings Canyon, one of the deepest river gorges in North America. The river is impounded in Pine Flat Lake before flowing into the San Joaquin Valley southeast of Fresno. With its upper and middle course in Fresno County, the Kings River diverges into multiple branches in Kings County, with some water flowing south to the old Tulare Lake bed and the rest flowing north to the San Joaquin River. However, most of the water is consumed for irrigation well upstream of either point.
Hume Lake is a reservoir in the Sierra Nevada, within Sequoia National Forest and Fresno County, central California.
Sierra National Forest is a U.S. national forest located on the western slope of the central Sierra Nevada in California, bounded on the northwest by Yosemite National Park and on the south by Kings Canyon National Park. The forest is known for its mountain scenery and beautiful lakes. Forest headquarters are located in Clovis, California. There are local ranger district offices in North Fork and Prather.
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 trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundaries of the forest.
Dunlap is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It lies at an elevation of 1,919 ft (585 m). It has a population of 131. It is located approximately 38 miles (61 km) east of Fresno. In the 1800s Dunlap was a rest stop for passengers of the stage coach and a location for a change of horses.
Inyo National Forest is a United States National Forest covering parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. The forest hosts several superlatives, including Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States; Boundary Peak, the highest point in Nevada; and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, which protects the oldest living trees in the world. The forest, encompassing much of the Owens Valley, was established by Theodore Roosevelt as a way of sectioning off land to accommodate the Los Angeles Aqueduct project in 1907, making the Inyo National Forest one of the least wooded forests in the U.S. National Forest system.
Pine Flat Lake is an artificial lake or reservoir in the Sierra Nevada foothills of eastern Fresno County, California on the western north-south border to the Sierra- and Sequoia National Forests, about 30 mi (48 km) east of Fresno. The lake is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and is open to boaters, campers & hikers.
Jennie Lakes Wilderness is a protected area in the Sierra Nevada, in Tulare County, California. It is located 60 miles (97 km) east of Fresno and managed by the US Forest Service. Jennie Lakes Wilderness is about nine square miles within the Sequoia National Forest, that was established by the California Wilderness Act of 1984, and added to the National Wilderness Preservation System.
Tollhouse is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It lies at an elevation of 1,919 feet (585 m). Tollhouse is located in the Sierra Nevada, 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Shaver Lake and 18 miles southwest of Huntington Lake. It is home to 2,089 people.
Forest Lakes is a small unincorporated community in Coconino County in the northern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is located on the edge of the Mogollon Rim and is in close proximity to several recreational lakes within the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, and is named for such.
The Monarch Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area located 70 miles east of Fresno, California, in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It encompasses 44,896 acres (181.69 km2) within both the Sequoia National Forest and the Sierra National Forest and is managed by the United States Forest Service. Elevations range from 950 feet (290 m) to 11,081 ft (3,377 m).
Balch Camp is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It is located near the confluence of the North Fork of the Kings River and Dinkey Creek 38 miles (61 km) east-northeast of Fresno, at an elevation of 1273 feet.
Hume Lake Christian Camps is a non-denominational, nonprofit parachurch organization and is one of the largest operators of Christian camps and conference centers in the world. Hume operates year-round camps and conference centers at multiple locations with programing for youth, family, and adults and has hosted more than 1 million visitors. Hume's camps focus on Bible teaching and worship services.
The Hume-Bennett Lumber Company was a logging operation in the Sequoia National Forest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company and its predecessors were known for building the world's longest log flume and the first multiple-arch hydroelectric dam. However, the company also engaged in destructive clearcutting logging practices, cutting down 8,000 giant sequoias in Converse Basin in a decade-long event that has been described as "the greatest orgy of destructive lumbering in the history of the world."
The Railroad Fire was a wildfire that burned in between the communities of Sugar Pine and Fish Camp in the Sierra National Forest in California, United States. The fire was reported on August 29, 2017 and burned 12,407 acres (50 km2) before it was fully contained on October 24. It occurred during the historic 2011–2017 California drought. The cause of the fire remains unknown.
Millwood was a lumber boomtown located in present-day Sequoia National Forest near Converse Basin Grove in California. It was established in 1891 by the Kings River Lumber Company and was connected to the Sequoia Railroad, which brought logs to the town to be turned into rough lumber. The lumber was then transported by log flume to Sanger, a journey of 54 miles. At its peak, Millwood had a population of over 2,000 people and featured two hotels, a summer school, and a post office. However, today there are no remaining structures or buildings at the Millwood site.
