Mono Lake

When i was a kid i used to get World magazine. World had a spin off magazine for more scientifically minded kids produced by the same company, although i can't remember what it was called. That magazine, back in the early 1980's, was the first time i heard of Mono Lake. I was spellbound by the bizarre rocks sticking up out of the water like cave formations. It looked like an alien planet, and as a child it seemed so remote i thought i'd never go there.

At that time the lake was in serious danger of being swallowed by Los Angele's endless appetite for water, as the formerly fertile Owen's Valley had been in the 1940. In fact, Mono was being drained by an extension of the very same aqueduct that destroyed Owen's Valley.

Los Angeles didn't want the actual lake water because it's a saline lake in a basin with no outlets. Instead, the water commission siphoned off the water from the tributary streams around the lake. It wasn't until 1994 that court cases were finally resolved in favor of restoring the lake. By that time the lake had lost 1/2 it's volume to evaporation (meaning the salinity doubled), and the ecosystem was in shambles. Today the lake is 11 feet deeper, and much work has gone on in the last decade to repair the state of the surrounding streams.

The tufa towers catch the light in a manner that is similar to the pillars of Bryce Canyon.

I wanted to get to those tuffa formations in the distance. I knew when sunset was but i underestimated when the sun would drop behind the Sierras. We were literally racing the light to get there before the shadows of the mountains beat us.

The odd thing about the whole distaster is that if it hadn't happened, people probably wouldn't be interested in visiting the lake at all. As the lake levels dropped it began to reveal surreal rock pillars called tufa.

Tufa forms in a variety of ways, but the main mechanism at Mono Lake creates tufa towers up to 30 feet high. The towers only form underwater at the bottom of the lake, where springs release water rich in calcium. The spring water bonds chemically with carbonates in the lake water and precipitates out of solution as calcium carbonate (limestone). The limestone grows slowly around the vents, creating rock formations that bear an uncanny resemblance to speleoforms (which only grow in caves and only out of the water).

The limestone tufa form all kinds of bizarre shapes. The rock is fragile, but that doesn't seem to stop busloads of visitors from immediately climbing all over it and posing for pictures. In the absence of crowds it offers a serene fantasy landscape.



Mono Lake lies at 6,400ft. in the high desert, directly east of Yosemite National Park. Mono Lake in it's present form has been around for at least 760,000 years. Sediments suggest it may be a remnant of an ancient lake that existed as far back as 3 million years ago, making it a contender for the oldest lake in North America. When i saw it i thought it was a collapsed caldera, like Crater Lake in Oregon. A basalt bench protrudes above the water far out in the middle of the lake. It's only a coincidence though.

A chain of cinder cones have made their way up from the south, stretching all the way  up to the lakes shore. The most recent eruption happened right in the  middle of the lake only 350 years ago. That eruption created an island that has since become a protected breeding ground for migrating birds.

Another unique and highly noticeable aspect of mono lake up close are the alkali flies. There are billions of them on the sand at the edge of the water and in the nearby grasses, lying in mattes. They often lie still until you approach, then they swarm around in a black cloud no higher than your knees. The constant smacking into your legs is uncomfortable but it's not nearly as annoying as mosquitoes. The flies don't bite, they eat microscopic algae in the water.

From a distance Mono Lake doesn't look interesting at all. Up close, though, it's a different world from the lands surrounding it. I found it very relaxing, so much so that we went twice for the sunset. I imagine it can be quite harsh in winter, but in late summer the evening breeze is just right, there are birds all over the place feeding on brine shrimp. There are rough dirt roads that stretch around one side of the lake, canoeing/kayaking are allowed and seem like a pretty fun way to get to some of the off shore tufa towers. At night the stars are fantastic in the dry air.

The view from our room in Lee Vining. For some reason i liked it.