Draining 318 square miles (820 km2)[2] – almost all of it wilderness – the Middle Fork is one of the largest wholly undeveloped watersheds in the state, with no dams or paved roads within its basin.

[3] The Middle Fork originates at Helen Lake in the high Sierra, near Muir Pass in Kings Canyon National Park.

[4] From its headwaters at 11,971 feet (3,649 m) above sea level,[1] it descends rapidly east down Le Conte Canyon, turning south at Big Pete Meadow.

[5] Below Simpson Meadow the Middle Fork turns west-southwest, flowing along the bottom of the Slide Bluffs and receiving many small tributaries before reaching the dramatic glacial canyon of Tehipite Valley, one of the most isolated parts of the park.

[6] Downstream, the Middle Fork flows through Little Tehipite Valley and then enters a rugged, trailless 8,000-foot (2,400 m) deep canyon in the Monarch Wilderness just outside the western boundary of the park.