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| Landmark #99 | Kern County | Visited: January 2, 2012 | Plaque? YES! 🙂 |
| What is it? | A pair of plaques marking Walker’s Pass out of the San Joaquin Valley! |
| What makes it historical? | THE GUIDE SAYS: Discovered by Joseph R. Walker, American trailblazer, who left the San Joaquin Valley through this pass in 1834. This area was traversed by topographer Edward M. Kern, after whom the Kern River was named, while accompanying the Frémont expedition of 1845. After 1860 it became a mining freight route to Owens Valley.
OTHER TIDBITS: Joseph Rutherford Walker was a renowned mountain man who first came to California on commission by fur entrepreneur, Captain Benjamin Bonneville! He crossed the Sierras near Yosemite, spent the winter near Monterey, courtesy of the Spanish governor, and left over this pass, guided by two guides from the Concoa tribe! He was a man of firsts, the first to lead wagons over the South Pass of the Continental Divide, the first to cross (and map out) the Great Basin via Humboldt River, the first white man to see the Yosemite area, and the first to lead emigrant wagons into California via the Owens Valley! He was also the mountain man who warned the Donner-Reed Party not to take the Hastings Cutoff through the Sierras. Sometimes, you just have to listen to the people who know what they’re talking about! This landmark is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
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| Where is this place? | LISTED DIRECTIONS: At summit on State Hwy 178 (P.M. 79.8) 8.4 mi NW of Freeman Jct (State Hwy 14) ANNOTATIONS: From Los Angeles: ~152mi (245km) — 2.6hrs |
| When should I go? | Whenever the mood strikes you! |