"Mono Lake lies in a lifeless, treeless, hideous desert, eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, and is guarded by mountains two thousand feet higher, whose summits are always clothed in clouds."
"This solemn, silent, sail-less sea --this lonely tenant of the loneliest spot on earth --is little graced with the picturesque."
"It is an unpretending expanse of grayish water, about a hundred miles in circumference, with two islands in its centre, mere upheavals of rent and scorched and blistered lava, snowed over with gray banks and drifts of pumice-stone and ashes, the winding sheet of the dead volcano, whose vast crater the lake has seized upon and occupied."
The above quotes are from Mark Twain's "Roughing It". He doesn't seem too enchanted with the place, but I was. If you want to read his very entertaining experience at Mono Lake - this page is a good place to do it.
Maybe because he wrote of his experiences approximately 145 years ago and, well, things do change, but I didn't feel the same during my brief visit there in October 2015. In fact, I'm dying to go again!
I had headed to the high desert for a few reasons...of course having to do with my camera:
- Get some shots of the sunrise (hopefully) over the tufa,
- Photograph some fall foliage, and
- Visit a ghost town! Namely, Bodie.
Well, I didn't get the sunrise because the drive was a liiiittttllleee bit longer than I had anticipated so I arrived just after sunrise. And it was overcast.
Which sucked. Mainly because it wasn't overcast everywhere...mainly over the lake. Of course. haha
But I did get some awesome tufa shots.
The reflections on the highly-alkaline lake were stunning.
I didn't make it to the main tufa area which is located a bit further down the highway at Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve. I wanted to get to Bodie at an early hour so I contented myself with the tufa at the Mono Lake Park. It wasn't very hard as they are so varied and interesting no matter where located.
And the park and boardwalk were lovely too.
Just because it's high desert, doesn't mean it isn't gorgeous. Frankly, I think Mr. Twain might have had a screw loose.
Tufa are like clouds...you can see all kinds of shapes and things in them. This one looks like a piggie.
And here we have a mushroom.
And this one...well...this one is either very phallic or looks like a munchkin with a bare butt.
I think there is something wrong with me. haha!
The sky was so dramatic at times! So then I was glad for the clouds. :-)
I did get a few fall foliage pictures although there was one beautiful spot filled with red and gold leaved trees with snowy mountains in the background that I wanted but didn't feel comfortable getting.
It was seriously so beautiful that people were pulling over on the highway to snap pics, but I was going the wrong direction and would have had to cross lanes of traffic to get the good angles. I just didn't feel comfortable.
So I contented myself with the few I could get.
This was really cool but doesn't fully translate to the photo. There was a creek that ran down this mountain. The creek was lined with birches which, of course, provided a burst of color in a vivid line.
And this is the same creek with it's thirsty birches, but closer to the lake. I was on a hill overlooking it at this point and it's really bright against the desert tundra.
I'll finish with some more dramatic sky. My current love is bare trees. I think they look so amazing. So I couldn't resist this shot that kind of sums up the high desert for me.
Mono Lake. What a treasure. And to think we almost killed it by diverting water to Los Angeles. I'm so happy that people realized. Especially a young man named David Gaines, who pretty much save the lake. You can read his story here. What an inspiration he and this beautiful area are.
I can't wait to go back.
xoxo
