Photos: A journey into drylands

Marci Ward hugs Murphy.

Marci Ward has a condition that is sucking the moisture from her cells.

Tanner Watson leaps into Indian Creek near Taylorsville as he vacations with his family.

A blue moon rises over the South and Lower Forks of the Feather River feeding into Lake Oroville.

Rock formations emerge and plants grow where water once was in Spicer Meadow Reservoir.

Visitors to Spicer Meadow Reservoir travel along a boat ramp that normally is many feet under water.

Ronald Bretherton, 85, tends to his rose garden, saying, “When my wife was alive, we were growing the roses from bare roots.”

As the setting sun sets its rising riverbottom a blaze of orange, a lone kayaker circles Lake Oroville along the banks of Foreman Creek.

An afternoon rainstorm delivered large sizes and sums of hail to the forest and roads in Stanislaus National Park.

Night settles over houseboats snuggled together into the shrinking Bidwell Canyon at Lake Oroville.

E.J. Pulley repels down a rocky hill to work on the Bidwell Canyon Marina.

A blue moon rises over the confluence of the South and Lower Forks of the Feather River, feeding into Lake Oroville below the Bidwell bridge.

Boaters sunbathe on a small island located in the Foreman Creek area of Lake Oroville.

A blue moon rises over Sycamore Creek at Lake Oroville.

A boat speeds by the ever rising banks of Lake Oroville on it’s way past Bidwell Canyon.

Carl Stead, 74, left and Monroe “Whitey” White, 78, sit together every day on the porch of Young’s Market.

Monroe “Whitey” White,78, slowly walks across Main St. after spending the afternoon with his friend Carl Stead, hanging out on the porch of Young’s Market.

The right hand of Monroe “Whitey” White,78, rests against his walking stick as he spends the afternoon with his friend Carl Stead, hanging out on the porch of Young’s Market.

Carl Stead is quick to proudly show off his tattoos. Stead, 74, was once a boxing lumberjack who stood 6’7” and weighed 300 lbs. Now he moves slowly and uses a quad runner to get around.

Landon Watson feels the freedom of summer as he joins his brothers on a trip to Grizzly Hideout campground. A beautiful spot on the river recently purchased by his father, Robert, who vacationed there as a child.

Bryce, Morgan, Tanner, Landon Watson jump into Indian Creek.

Landon Watson dries off and warms up after swimming in Indian Creek.

Andrea West, a native of Taylorsville, looks over the community bulletin board as her son, Rowan, 2, explores nearby.

Joey Caniday, vacationing from Southern California, prepares to kayak on Blue Lake.

At the Lakeport Auto Movies Drive In in Lakeport, Calif.

At the Lakeport Auto Movies Drive In in Lakeport, Calif.

At the Sunfire Equestrian Center, west of Sacramento.

At Sunfire Equestrian Center, west of Sacramento.

A massive plume of smoke from the Wragg fire rises behind a barn in Napa County.

Wilting sunflowers glow in the afternoon sun as smoke from the Wragg fire floats eastward.

A massive plume of smoke rises over the hills behind Lake Berryessa as the Wragg fire burns for the second day.

Pedro Perez sips a drink of water while taking a break from picking pears at the Steamboat Acres farm.

Mike Neuharth cradles an armload of peaches he picked as he follows a newly hired crew working its first day at Steamboat Acres.

An aging boat dock along the Sacramento River.

A heron soaks up the sun on the banks of the Steamboat Slough.

Boater Zach Taylor is given a hand in clearing piles of hyacinth plants from the boat ramp as he tries to load his craft onto a trailer at Hogback Recreation Facility.

The Discover the Delta Farmstand stands at a crossroads along the Delta Loop.

Drought has severely reduced the fish population in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Charles and Jim have named their female dogs Judy and their male dogs Sam since 1951.   (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Sam Lippert laughs it up at the Panoche Inn bar, where hundreds of dollar bills hang from the ceiling.

Mexican troubadours Alvaro Gonzales and Miguel Alvarez play in San Juan Bautista.

Sunday morning on a San Juan Bautista patio, two Mexican troubadours play beautiful, yearning songs.

Houseboats are propped on blocks in a parking lot at the McClure Point launching area. Hundreds of boats have been pulled out of the water because there is so little room on the receding Lake McClure.

The receding waters of Lake Isabella uncover long forgotten evidence of life that was there before the Army Corps of Engineers built the dam in 1953.

A rafter traverses rocks that are usually underwater as the Kern River flows toward Lake Isabella. For residents and businesses, each year is a year closer to the next wet one, but staying afloat hasn’t been easy.

“I caught depression. But my body is fabulous in the water,” said Aunt Elidia.

Frank Enstad, left, and Michael Krause of Eagle Rafting lift rafts from the banks of the Kern River.

Young sequoia saplings grow in the footprint of a tree thousands of years old that was felled during a prescribed burn in 2011 in the Giant Forest at Crescent Meadows.

A fire-scarred sequoia tree remains standing at Crescent Meadow.

Chris Harp is a ditch tender; he doles out irrigation water. He grew up in the Riverdale area and would like to retire there, but things look grim.

Fourth of July revelers find seats among a row of boat docks on the shore of Bass Lake. After years of drought, the once-floating docks now rest on sand.

Marta Zepeda of Lathrop sits along a row of beached boat docks on the shore of Bass Lake. Before the drought, the docks had floated above about 10 feet of water.

Water flows along the Kings River for the first time in six months, carrying confused fish and tons of debris over the parched riverbed.

Rick Jackson treads through the debris-laden flow of the Kings River as water runs along its parched floor for the first time in six months.

Water flows down the Kings River for the first time in six months, bringing along young fish and tons of debris.

Murphy walks along the rocky shores of Millerton Lake. The lake’s water level is 35% below normal.

Murphy jumps into Millerton Lake.

Fishermen are dwarfed by the banks of Lake McClure, about 40 miles east of Modesto. The lake is at less than 10% of its capacity.

Declining water levels are evident at Castaic Lake. The reservoir, which holds supplies from Northern California, is the end of the west branch of the State Water Project.