Mono Lake is a place I've wanted to go ever since I was wee little, looking at old National Geographics, and dreaming. I thought I knew what to expect: salty, big, with cool rock formations. But actually being there, walking along the shoreline, took my breath away. It was one of the four "WOW" moments I had on the trip. I walked into the water for just a minute or two. The water felt slippery, and my feet and sandals were crusty with salt once they dried off! The salt collects in the lake because it has no outlet to the ocean. The rock towers are made of a material called tufa, which is rock deposited by springs. The tufa builds up until it breaks the surface of the water, and sometimes keeps going. Many of the towers are exposed because the city of Los Angeles (nearly 400 miles away!) drew off large amounts of water from the lake's tributaries for use as a drinking supply. Courts have now restricted how much water the city can take. It is amazing to me, an Easterner who gets tired of having so much rain in these dreary Tennessee winters, how important water is in most parts of the West.
Mono Lake is a place I've wanted to go ever since I was wee little, looking at old National Geographics, and dreaming. I thought I knew what to expect: salty, big, with cool rock formations. But actually being there, walking along the shoreline, took my breath away. It was one of the four "WOW" moments I had on the trip. I walked into the water for just a minute or two. The water felt slippery, and my feet and sandals were crusty with salt once they dried off! The salt collects in the lake because it has no outlet to the ocean. The rock towers are made of a material called tufa, which is rock deposited by springs. The tufa builds up until it breaks the surface of the water, and sometimes keeps going. Many of the towers are exposed because the city of Los Angeles (nearly 400 miles away!) drew off large amounts of water from the lake's tributaries for use as a drinking supply. Courts have now restricted how much water the city can take. It is amazing to me, an Easterner who gets tired of having so much rain in these dreary Tennessee winters, how important water is in most parts of the West.
3 comments:
Hi Ash,
Oh my gods -- Mono Lake -- another of my favorite places on planet earth... I could talk for hours about Mono Lake and the Owens Valley, and Bodie, and Mt. Whitney, and Bristlecone Forest, and Owens Lake, and Death Valley, and the Mono Craters, and June Lake, and -- oh god, I could go on and on and on... (And I'm actually not all that big of a talker) --My aunt and uncle "exposed" me to this area when I was a mere lad, and I've made several trips to the area, but sadly, for most of those trips I wasn't taking photos (I had a long photo dryspell between the ages of 21 and 53)... This is the land of Ansel Adams, etc... Just on the backdoor of Yosemite -- and stop me -- I could go on again... Very happy memories... Thanks for um, Ash... Sincerely, Don & Kitty
Ash,
Thanks for adding me to your links, I appreciate it!
These are certainly WOW photos! The terrain is so much different than Pa and you do a great job capturing it! I’m looking forward to many more beautiful pics! I know you have them!!!
My personal favorite is the pic of Lake Tahoe frames by trees.
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