Images from California’s intensifying drought crisis

SOBERING SCENES AS DROUGHT INTENSIFIES

A TRIP THROUGH NORCAL REVEALS LITTLE SNOW, SHRUNKEN RESERVOIRS AND RIVERS, AND WORRIES OF MORE FISH DIE-OFFS

By Chris Cocoles

As I packed up my belongings at a hotel in Medford, Oregon – my pit stop on a trip from my Seattle home to the Bay Area – I saw a sobering live Facebook video from our pal James Stone, the president of the NorCal Guides and Sportsman’s Association (ncgasa.org). Stone took viewers on a tour of the Sacramento River boat ramp at the old Steelhead Lodge in Colusa. He pointed to where the water level should be at this time of year compared to how low it is now as the state grapples with drought conditions that experts say could get even worse. “You’re looking at about 4,000 cfs here in Colusa, California,” Stone says on his video. “Water temperatures are over 70 degrees. They’re sublethal for all salmonids … And you’re gonna see a large die-off of salmon this year. You’re gonna see some of the worst (water) temperatures we’ve ever seen, at least in my lifetime in 40plus years. So be prepared for it, and hopefully (I’m) wrong.”

As my pup Emma and I got back on southbound Interstate 5, I kept thinking about Stone’s depressing expectations for water levels and the

The lack of mid-June snow on 14,000-plus-foot Mount Shasta was a telltale sign of what I would see along the way. (CHRIS COCOLES)

We exited I-5 at Lakeshore Drive in the community of Lakehead, just about where the upper Sacramento River enters Shasta Lake, one of the state’s critical reservoirs. (CHRIS COCOLES)

This boat dock has seen better days, as has this stretch of water. (CHRIS COCOLES)

Further south in Shasta’s main body, the far Bridge Bay marina had lots of boats but not a great amount of water to explore with them. (CHRIS COCOLES) The meandering Klamath River flows past a rest area just south of the OregonCalifornia border. Winter snowfall in the river’s headwaters was far below normal and downstream there’s been an ongoing dieoff of young salmon due to a parasitic infection enhanced by the drought. Some Klamath farmers’ fields won’t be irrigated for the first time in a century. (CHRIS COCOLES) We did break the Charlie Creek Bridge loitering rule as we stopped to get a look at what little water was below. I doubt there would be any immediate worries about jumping, diving or fishing from this bridge.

(CHRIS COCOLES)

After early-afternoon temperatures cracked triple digits, a Popeye's chicken sandwich was needed and enjoyed on a shady picnic table at Anderson River Park, where the Sacramento River quietly flowed past. (CHRIS COCOLES) The Sac from Red Bluff’s perspective. At press time, the Sacramento Valley lowlands and 33 percent of the state are in “exceptional drought,” the worst category,and up from less than 10 percent in May as summer hits and conditions intensify. (CHRIS COCOLES)

Emma did her best to keep cool as we took a short walk down a path to the park’s swampy fishing area along the river, highlighted by the kayak kid who gleefully told someone out of my sight that he had salvaged the frog lure he was tossing. (CHRIS COCOLES)

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effect they may have on an already perilous salmon run. So I decided to make a few detours and check out stretches of the Sacramento River, Shasta Lake and even Folsom Lake during a planned trip to visit my niece Ashley, her husband David and their newborn son Weston in the Sacramento metro area.

As these photos show, it wasn’t much more positive than Stone’s assessment on the Colusa stretch of the Sac. In other words, California desperately needs wet and snowy winters going forward. CS

En route to Folsom and then Ashley’s house in Citrus Heights the next day, we stopped by the Jiboom Street Bridge near downtown Sacramento. Branches of downed trees rose above the surface of the Sac. (CHRIS COCOLES)

Kayakers and paddleboaders enjoyed the hot sun on Lake Natoma, located along the American River just south of Folsom. (CHRIS COCOLES)

Like Shasta and Oroville to the north, Folsom Lake’s dwindling water supply – all three reservoirs were hovering at 40 percent or less of full capacity – is ground zero for the state’s drought

concerns. (CHRIS COCOLES)

The state park ranger graciously let us in to take a few photos without paying the day-use fee, so I hastily took photos and then left the park. It was depressing to soak in the views of the lake.

(CHRIS COCOLES)

This really stood out to me, given the surroundings on this June afternoon. After snapping this last photo, I walked back to the car shaking my head and wondering how much worse it can get before it gets better. California just experienced a five-year drought, followed by some wetter years, and now the pendulum has swung back to dry – and how. (CHRIS COCOLES)