Photos: Postcards from the Sierra, where they are still skiing and the water is flowing

It was a drought-busting winter.

Mammoth Mountain and the Sierra Nevada range recorded a record amount of snow, as area reservoirs returned to full capacity.

Times photographer Luis Sinco took a drive down the Eastern Sierra’s to see first hand the snowmelt that is finally giving way to summer.

A kayaker returns to shore after paddling around Lake Mary in the Mammoth Lakes basin.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Hikers follow a trail along Rainbow Falls in the Devils Postpile National Monument. The falls are fed by the middle fork of the San Joaquin River, which is running strong after last winter’s record snowfall in the Sierra Nevada.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A sign points to destinations near and far along a trail in Devils Postpile National Monument. The U.S. Forest Service only recently opened the trail due to all the snowfall from last winter and spring.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The summer melt is underway in Mammoth Lakes following a year of record snowfall in the Sierra Nevada.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A visitor to Twin Lakes pauses on a footbridge to take in the scenery.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Pockets of snow cling to the Sierra Nevada near Mammoth Lakes well into the summer.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Rainbow trout swim in a pond at the Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery near Independence. The pond is fed with snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Left, a dragonfly perches on the branch of a water plant in a pond at the Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery near Independence. Right, pockets of snow cling to the Sierra Nevada near Lone Pine.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The moon rises over a burn scar left on the landscape by the 1992 Rainbow fire.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)