California’s Dry Spell

In the decade leading to Evan Kilkus’s discovery of Lake Berryessa’s mystery hole, a state-wide drought had effectively dried out the lake, wreaking havoc to ecosystems in the area. The reservoir, a major source of water for the Northbay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, was in critical levels with huge amounts of it gone, a chilling effect of climate change that has turned this almost overflowing lake into an arid wasteland.

Dire Straits

Climate change had hit California so hard that the longest dry season in recent history had turned the Lake Berryessa reservoir into dry land, making most people forget that the deep valley straddled by the Vaca Moutains once overflowed with water. People like Evan had no idea what the lake looked like before the spell and with the coming of the rains and the rising of the water to its former levels came the revelation of a secret hiding in plain sight.”