Stillness at Twilight, Mono Lake by Robert Turner

Mono Lake
Mono Lake is very unique. For starters, it's old--at least 700,000 years old and one of the oldest continuously existing lakes on the continent. Fed by huge glaciers back during the last Ice Age, Mono Lake was 60 times larger than the 66 square miles it covers today. Mono Lake is located just off Highway 395 east of Yosemite National Park. Access to 395 from the park is easiest via Highway 120 over the Tioga Pass.
The Tioga Pass is closed during the winter and spring.

Mono Lake is naturally salty and alkaline because it has no outlet. The only way water leaves is via evaporation. The Sierra streams that flow into Mono contain only trace amounts of minerals and salts but those minerals and salts stay and their concentrations, over the years, multiply.

Mono Lake is a geologist's paradise. It is ringed by volcanoes--new and old. Two of the islands on the lake are volcanic domes. No area volcanoes are active at the moment but the area shows many signs of potential eruptions.

The most intriguing of Mono Lake's phenomena are the tufa towers visible along much of the shoreline. Tufa are made from calcium carbonate which makes its way into the lake from underground springs. The calcium and carbonate combine to form limestone which builds up over time around the lake bottom spring openings. Declining lake levels have exposed the tufa towers we see today. Some of these tufa towers are up to 30 feet high.

Mono supports a simple but amazingly productive food chain. At the bottom of that chain are microscopic, single-celled algae. The algae serves as food for two other species--brine shrimp and brine flies which, in turn, serve as the major food source for literally millions of water birds. It's estimated that some 85% of California's seagulls started their life here at Mono Lake. There are at least 80 species of waterfowl that call Mono Lake home.

Mono Lake and the adjacent basin are open for year-round recreation. Hiking, swimming, bird watching and photography are very popular outdoor activities.