Lake Isabella

Lake Isabella is the big reservoir of the Kern River Valley, about an hour northeast of Bakersfield where Highways 178 and 155 meet, at roughly 2,500 feet. The Army Corps of Engineers formed it in 1953 by damming the Kern River where its North and South Forks join. Full, it holds about 568,000 acre-feet over some 11,000 acres. The Corps retrofitted the main and auxiliary dams after a 2006 finding that the dam was unstable; that work was substantially completed in 2022, after years of capacity limits. The towns of Lake Isabella, Wofford Heights and Kernville surround the lake, and Sequoia National Forest manages most shoreline recreation.

Launching and marinas

There are many ways onto the water. Forest Service sites such as Launch 19, between the Main Dam and Auxiliary Dam, are free and open year-round. Kern County lists a large launch area on Highway 178 with about 300 car-and-trailer spaces, plus the Engineers Point launch off Barlow Drive. Two full-service marinas, French Gulch Marina near Wofford Heights and Mike's Kern Valley Marina on Highway 178, sell fuel, rent boats and handle haul-out and repair.

Rules that catch visitors

Kern County requires a permit for boats on the lake: $45 a year for powered boats and $30 for paddle and sail craft, sold at marinas and stores around the lake. Keep to 5 mph within 200 feet of shore and within 100 feet of swimmers. Boating is a daytime activity, from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset.

Conditions

Water levels swing with Kern River runoff, so check current levels and watch for underwater obstacles near shore. As of May 2026, the lake had no mandatory boat inspection program, which makes Clean, Drain, Dry especially important.