We woke up at the Lake View Lodge on the second day of our Great American Family Road Trip. Alex looked out the window and declared, “It’s really beautiful out there. The sky is blue, there are big trees, and I think there is a lake across the street.”
That was a great description of the start of the day, in the town of Lee Vining, California, on the shores of Mono Lake. Mono Lake is a saltwater lake that has been the center of a water rights battle for several decades. The City of Los Angeles began diverting water from this part of California in the 1960’s, causing Owens Lake to dry up completely and Mono Lake to drop by forty feet. A court order in 1990's stopped the lake draining, and residents have waged an ongoing battle to try to preserve the lake.
One of the interesting by-products of the lake level lowering was the discovery of tufas, or calcium carbonate deposits that form interesting formations on the lake bed. When the lake lowered, some of these were uncovered, and have become quite a tourist attraction for visitors to Mono Lake. Normally, these are underwater, so it is quite incredible to be able to walk among the tufa towers. We decided to go and check them out for ourselves.
We checked out of the lodge, had breakfast at Nicely’s diner (excellent blueberry pancakes), and headed toward the Tufas on the south side of the lake.
Mono Lake is a beautiful sight, ringed by mountains, and scrubby terrain. The water was perfectly calm and still, with a few canoes on it, but not much other activity. It’s too salty to swim in, and people mainly go there to look at it.
We checked in at the guard station, but didn’t have to pay the entry fee due to our National Park Passport that Frank bought before we left home. Alex took off like a shot down the paved pathway, which quickly turned into a narrow dirt path in single file, with Alex in the lead. We meandered down the path, through some scrub with tiny yellow flowers, sage, and other spindly plants, stopping to take pictures and read the nature signs along the way.
The rock formation were all over, giant porous and unearthly towers that looked more like moon rocks that earth rocks. We took pictures and hiked down to the water’s edge. There were a few other visitors, most of them speaking foreign languages or speaking English with and accent other than American. With the exception of one large Chinese family, everyone besides us were Europeans.
Alex befriended a German boy and his mom, and the two of them had fun jumping on the millions of tiny black flies at the water’s edge, causing them to swarm in a black cloud at their feet. I was worried that they might bite, but Alex assured me that they didn’t. Alex and the boy entertained themselves causing the flies to swarm, and a few fat gulls chomped on brine shrimp near the edge, nonplussed by the two energetic boys.
Alex asked us a few times if we were in the "middle of nowhere."
Frank told him no, that was the outskirts of nowhere, and in fact, a very famous place. Alex wanted us to let him know when we reached the middle of nowhere.
It was hot and sunny, and so we didn’t stay long. I wandered ahead a bit and sat on a bench looking out at the lake. For a while, there were no other people there, just me an a few gulls. It was as peaceful a scene as I could imagine, a cloudless blue sky over a still blue lake.
Eventually, Alex and Frank caught up and we wandered the circular trail back to the car. I noticed a footprint in the sand as I walked, and took a picture of it. It seemed appropriate to this beautiful place, an ephemeral little love note left behind in the sand.
Next stop: Sand Mountain, near Fallon, Nevada.
