The Mountains
Apple Picking in Tehachapi: Orchards, U-Pick Season and the Apple Festival
At 4,000 feet, Tehachapi gets the winter chill apples need — which is why Kern County's apple country sits in the mountains rather than on the valley floor.
Updated October 2026
Kern County is not an apple place. It is a grape, almond, citrus and carrot place. The southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, where the growing season is long and the winters are mild. Apples want the opposite of that.
Which is why the county’s apple country is not in the valley at all. It is 40 miles east and 3,500 feet up, in Tehachapi.
Why the apples are up here
Apple trees need chill hours, a stretch of cold winter weather below about 45°F (before they will set fruit properly the following season). The valley floor rarely delivers enough of them. Tehachapi, sitting at roughly 4,000 feet in the mountains between the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave, does.
That single fact explains the whole landscape. Drive up Highway 58 from Bakersfield and the crops change as the road climbs: table grapes and citrus give way to open grazing, then to orchards. The apples start where the elevation starts.
The orchards
Three names come up consistently, and they do different things.
Pulford’s Appletree Orchard is by far the largest apple grower in the Tehachapi Valley. Its season runs September through mid-November, depending on the availability of fruit. Orchard tours are available by appointment on weekdays. Call 661-822-5021.
Knaus Apple Ranch has been at it the longest. It offers pick-your-own Red Delicious and Golden Delicious. Call 661-822-4142.
Dries Farm does both u-pick and we-pick, for apples and for pumpkins; useful in October when you want one stop rather than two. Call 661-444-0835.
The common thread is the phone number. Every one of these opens on fruit, not on a schedule, and a block that was heavy with apples on Saturday can be picked clean by Sunday afternoon. Calling the morning you plan to come is not excessive caution here; it is how the season works.
The Tehachapi Apple Festival
The festival is Kern County’s oldest apple festival, and in 2026 it runs for one day only: Saturday, October 10, 10am to 6pm, in downtown Tehachapi around Green Street and Centennial Plaza and the surrounding blocks.
It is free to attend.
What it involves, in roughly the order you will encounter it walking in: local growers selling the current crop, handmade crafts and artisan booths, food vendors, live music, a kid zone, apple bobbing, a pie-eating contest, a baking contest, and the Miss Apple Fest pageant.
It is a genuine small-town festival rather than a tourist production, which is both its appeal and the thing to plan around. Downtown Tehachapi is not large, and a one-day festival concentrates everybody into a few blocks. Arrive early if you want to park anywhere near Green Street.
Making a day of it
Tehachapi rewards a full day rather than a quick orchard run, and the drive up is most of the reason.
If you come from Bakersfield on Highway 58, the César E. Chávez National Monument at Keene is directly on the way and open daily from 10am to 4pm: a reasonable first stop before the orchards open up properly.
Once you are in the valley, the Tehachapi Loop is a fifteen-minute drive from downtown, and the Tehachapi Pass wind farms fill the ridgelines above the town. Both are free, both are outdoors, and both pair naturally with an orchard stop and a bag of apples in the back of the car.
A note on timing
The festival and the picking season overlap but are not the same thing.
Festival Saturday is the busiest day of the Tehachapi year. If what you actually want is a quiet hour in an orchard with a bag, come on a weekday in late September or early November instead. The fruit is the same, the drive is the same, and you will have the rows largely to yourself.
If you want the town at full volume, October 10 is the day.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is apple season in Tehachapi?
Roughly September through mid-November, though it moves year to year with the weather. Pulford's Appletree Orchard gives its season as September through mid-November depending on the availability of fruit, which is the honest way to put it — a late frost or a hot September shifts everything.
When is the Tehachapi Apple Festival?
Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 10am to 6pm in downtown Tehachapi, centered on Green Street and Centennial Plaza. It is free to attend, runs for one day only, and is Kern County's oldest apple festival.
Which orchards let you pick your own?
Knaus Apple Ranch offers u-pick Red Delicious and Golden Delicious (661-822-4142). Dries Farm offers both u-pick and we-pick for apples and pumpkins (661-444-0835). Pulford's Appletree Orchard is the valley's largest grower and runs orchard tours by appointment on weekdays (661-822-5021).
Do I need to call ahead?
Yes. Every orchard here opens on fruit, not on a calendar, and a picked-out block closes without notice. One phone call the morning you plan to drive up saves a wasted trip over the pass.
Why does Tehachapi grow apples when the valley below doesn't?
Elevation. Tehachapi sits around 4,000 feet, high enough to get the winter chill hours apples need to set fruit properly. The San Joaquin Valley floor 40 miles west is too warm for that, which is why it grows grapes, almonds and citrus instead.
What else is worth doing the same day?
The Tehachapi Loop and the Tehachapi Pass wind farms are both within a short drive, and the town itself is small enough to walk. If you are coming up from Bakersfield, the César E. Chávez National Monument at Keene is directly on the Highway 58 route.