The boys woke in the morning to realize why they could not find the lake the night before: the lake was nearly dry. Instead of a lake, the valley of the Kaweah River lay spread out below them, most of it golden or brown, but in varying tones of green near what remained of the river, and mud-black near the water line. They wouldn’t be fishing that morning. The river was too far away to bother, and the lake was probably inaccessible. A jackrabbit grazed nearby, camouflaged amid the grass in its dull yellow coat. Armen grabbed a slice of cold pizza out of its box, and Sam followed suit. The air was temperate, though not refreshingly so. There was no edge to it; no life in it. Even the mildness of it seemed to prophesy the inevitable reign of the sun.
Armen and Sam could see the road cut of the highway directly above their campsite, so they walked their bikes directly up to the highway through the leaning towers of dehydrated grass. The riding was good along the river into the town of Three Rivers, where they stopped for supplies. They turned up South Fork Road at the fire station, and pedaled through the broad, pleasant valley of the South Fork. White equestrian fences lined the road. But the grade became steeper as the day grew hot, and the boys ceased riding and settled for walking their bikes, always on the lookout for water sources. They found one creek that passed under the road, beyond a fence. Sam crept under the fence with their canteens for some precious rangeland water. Next, they tapped a hose bib by a house near the road. Farther up the road, a weak spring dribbled out of a road cut, with more moss there than water. The next water they encountered had cattle standing in it, so they pressed on to the next river crossing.
It was a long, parched haul. The sun rode heavy on their backs. They walked their bikes into the park after nightfall, and got to camp within two hours of midnight. For water, Sam stumbled across the dark canyon bottom to the river. Armen nursed a sudden nosebleed, hoping his dehydrated body wouldn’t lose much more water through his nose.