Cliff Creek

Cliff Creek is an 8.5-mile (13.7 km) long creek in Tulare County, California in Sequoia National Park. It is a major tributary of the Middle Fork Kaweah River and has its source high in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Course
It begins high in the Sierra Nevada mountain range at an elevation of 10,944 feet (3336 m) at Columbine lake on the eastern side of Sawtooth mountain. It descends to Cyclamen lake via a cataract and from there travels over another waterfall into nearby Spring lake. After exiting Spring lake, Cliff Creek begins its steep descent southwestward to its confluence with the Middle Fork Kaweah river, over 6,000 feet below. Pinto Lake, a small pond in a large meadow, feeds Cliff Creek in the upper part of its canyon.

Its course is defined by wet meadows, large waterfalls and subalpine conifer forests.

In most years, Cliff Creek is a swift and deep stream that can be treacherous to backpackers without proper precautions.

Geography
Cliff Creek is entirely contained within Sequoia National Park. It is paralleled by backpacking trails between the middle fork canyon and the divide between the Kern and Kaweah rivers at Blackrock Pass, as well as the nearby Mineral King valley.

There are a number of backpacking campsites of various qualities along Cliff Creek.

Ecology
Cliff Creek flows through a number of different ecosystems on its 7,000-foot descent through the Sierra Nevada. Starting in a barren alpine lake, it descends through the subalpine and montane zones, eventually joining with the Kaweah river in a montane California woodlands biome.