A New Look at Mono Lake

Gaining a new perspective of something you already know is the same thing as learning something new.

Early in 2017, I described a visit I made to California’s Mono Lake some years earlier. Varying in extent from 45,000 – 55,000 acres, it’s the third largest lake in the state. It isn’t famous for fishing, boating and other typical lacustrine activities. Many people, including me, go there to see the geology, which looks like this.

Those rock-like formations have a fascinating origin. I’ll explain briefly, but for more information, you can read my previous post at this link.

Mono Lake is endorheic. In plain English, it’s a closed system; water flows in, but not out. Due to evaporation, the water in endorheic lakes like Mono is extremely alkaline. Some water enters Mono Lake from underground springs. The alkaline water causes calcium in the spring water to precipitate out as solids, forming underwater “towers” of limestone at the springs. In the case of Mono Lake, the water level is much lower than at one time, revealing the limestone deposits — referred to as “tufa towers.”

Birdwatchers visit Mono Lake to see large numbers of migratory birds attracted by dense populations of brine shrimp.

Walking along the southern shore of the lake to see the tufa towers, it was difficult to appreciate the size of this isolated inland sea. This week, I traveled past Mono Lake en route to another California attraction, but didn’t stop. Instead, descending from the higher land to the north on U.S. Route 395, I got this view of Mono Lake from several hundred feet above.

The view looks south. The town of Lee Vining sits at the far right-hand edge of the lake. The Sierra Nevada mountains, further south, are on the right. Not far to the right of this view, over the Tioga Pass, is Yosemite National Park.

Life is so short that one has to resist the temptation to revisit the same places, no matter how interesting they are. In my book, getting a new perspective on somewhere you’ve seen before counts as a new experience, not a repeat. Nice to get an aerial view of the lake without having to board an airplane.

© Brad Nixon 2018