Back to map to Map                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Additional Mono Lake Tufa (slide show)
Mono Lake
Mono Lake from near the summit of Dunderberg Peak  (Distant White Mountains)
The Lake is at least 760,000 years old (Some estimates 1-3 million), the Mono Craters are less then 40,000 years yet the tufa has only been exposed above water for less than 100 years. (When LA started diverting water in 1941,lake elevation was 6417'). The tufa formed from under water springs which slowly built up columns of calcium carbonate from the lake floor. The Mono Craters are plugged volcanoes. By 1981 the level was down over 45 feet, which had halved the volume of the lake and doubled its salinity. LA was stopped before they drained Mono Lake as they had done to Owen's Lake. The two Islands (Paoha and Negit) are gull rookeries and LA was forced to keep enough water in the lake to keep the islands from being connected to the shore, where coyotes could get to the islands and the gull chicks. On September 28,1994 Los Angeles was  mandated to allow the lake to refill to 6392' which is 25 feet below the 1941 level.
Reflected Mono Lake tufa with Inyo Craters in the back ground
Reflected Mono Lake tufa with the Inyo Craters in the back ground	Tufa along with the Dana Plateau reflected in Mono Lake
Mono Lake has no outlet and evaporation and restricted inflow has made it much saltier than the ocean (2 1/2 times saltier and 100 times more alkaline), about the only thing that lives in it are bacteria, algae, brine shrimp and alkali flies which are eaten by the birds. I prefer the winter when the shores aren't black with alkali flies. Unfortunately the area is extremely cold in the winter (Mono Lake/Lee Vining and Bridgeport seem to be the coldest areas on US 395)
Tufa along with the Mt Gibbs and the Dana Plateau reflected in Mono Lake
Sunrise
Tufa formations	Top 2005 -  Bottom 2010 (the lake has risen a few feet in 5 years)
Lee Vining Canyon and the start of the road to Tioga Pass and the east gate to Yosemite National Park
Much of Bodie burned down, some is propped up.  Population was of over 10,000 by 1879	The old gold mill at Bodie is supposedly open for tours now (was off limits for years)
The ghost town of Bodie  is on the northern side of Mono Lake, it can be reached from a dirt road off Highway 167 which goes from Lundy Lake cutoff to Hawthorne Nevada along the north side of the Lake or from a mostly paved road from the north side of Conway summit before Bridgeport off US 395. A huge gold discovery made Bodie rich and dangerous. The bad men of Bodie were infamous. A young girl once wrote in her diary "Goodbye God you wont be seeing me for a while we're moving to Bodie" Winters at 8375' were severe with snow occasionally up to second floor windows.
Lake levels (The top of tufa formation in 2005 is about 4 feet above the water line)	ECV plaque at Mono Mills site
On the southeastern side of Mono Lake the largest continuous Jeffery Pine forest in the world was logged, milled and the lumber shipped to Bodie by railroad.
Mono Lake and Lower Horse Meadows
Back to map to Map