John Wayne, Old Kernville and Lake Isabella

Our Lil' Miss GPS takes us directly to the campgrounds.  Hmmm.  This is weird.  There is not a single solitary soul in the campground.  No host.  No other campers. No National Forest Ranger (and this is before the government shut-down of all National Parks.)  John heads for the restroom only to find it locked up tight.  Sigh.

I get on the laptop, find the National Parks reservation number, call 'em up, confirm we're in the right place, confirm that there are still no openings in Sequoia National Park itself, and realize we've got the entire place to ourselves.  Good news, bad news.  Good news is, "to ourselves" means no crying children, barking dogs, or noisy party-ers; Bad news is, it's kinda weird feeling.

In the meantime, John, for a lack of anything else to do, had walked down to the next restroom and found it was open, flushing, and showers working.  We set up camp. 

Still plenty of time to check out the sights close by.  We go back toward the lake, take a couple of pictures:

Ah, it's pretty ... pretty low ... pretty barren ... pretty devoid of people!  Seems that pretty soon, if it doesn't do some serious snowing or raining upstream, the water is going to be so low that the original townsite of Kernville will re-emerge!  Yup, yet another town swallowed up by the damming of a river to provide water to L.A.  Tis a shame, too, because Kernville was a true old west town, established in 1858, first named Rogersville but soon to be known as Whiskey Flat when the saloon opened.  In 1864 it took the name Kernville in memory of  Edward Kern, the topographer and artist of the John C. Freemont expedition that came through and camped here in 1845.

When the Isabella Dam construction got underway, the whole town, brick, stone, and board, was moved upriver to higher ground, including the famous Mountain Inn (now renamed the River View Lodge.)  It had been built mainly to house movie stars and crew before the 1948 relocation.  Use of the town for movie sets all but disappeared after the move because it was just never the same.  But it was THE top remote film location for Hollywood.  Remember the John Wayne movies, "Stagecoach" and "In Old California"?  They were shot here.  

http://www.dukewayne.com/showthread.php?t=2528

 It is said that Hollywood, from right in this area, can make you believe that you are anywhere they need you to be - except for on a congested highway or in a metropolitan area:  arid desert, verdant mountain, stream, river, lake, canyons, meadows, giant forests, dusty hiking trails, winding mountain roads... even Lake Isabella can make you believe you're on the coast of the Pacific Ocean if the wind comes up just right!  And all of that just a couple of hours from their main studios in Hollywood. 


We hop back in the car and mosey down the road a piece, past the dam, and to the other side of the road.  See the contrast between the two pieces of scenery?  No wonder Hollywood likes this place!

Much prettier!  If I was still an agile, jock-kinda-teenager, I swear I'd jump in and go for a swim!  But, alas, I'm a too-fat-to-climb-out kinda old woman now, so all I can do is look.  And so I did, and it was wonderful!