The earth is parched, and the leaves of shrubs and trees turn brown early because of lack of water.
Each time the water recedes, Hyder's characters are left parched with nostalgia, to be quenched only when the river is next in spate.
Parched soil last summer left thousands of subsistence farmers without crops to harvest or food reserves to carry them through the planting season.
But here, along the Oregon-California border, the issue is anything but abstract: about 200,000 acres of farmland have been left parched by the water cutoff, and the people who depend on them say they have begun to revise their views of right and wrong.
Interestingly, my partner in crime continued to enjoy a steady stream of beverages, while I was left parched and indignant with the stark message that some get away with it and others don't - draw your own conclusions.
The US has seen its worst drought in more than 50 years, vast swathes of Russia have been left parched by lack of rain, India has had a dry monsoon, while rainfall in South America early in the year fell well below expectations.
In those conditions, water in the skin evaporates easily, leaving it parched (and ashy).
VISITING the big city can leave you parched, especially in summer.
Such farmland is becoming unviable, because the cracks drain irrigation water from the surface and leave crops parched.
Later, the antismoking crusade was embraced by temperance leaders, who reasoned that the habit left smokers parched and craving drink, most likely alcohol.
