It rises in the Inyo National Forest on the Tulare side of the Inyo County-Tulare County line, in a small meadow on the Sierra Crest near the Pacific Crest Trail. The river flows south through meadows and broad valleys, drawing very close to Golden Trout Creek, a tributary of the Kern River to the west. Much of the river's course south is just to the west of Owens Valley, which lies to the east at the base of the Sierra.