Mammoth 8-2023

After exploring the Village area, we drove around the town and found a Dutch Bakery filled with mouth watering desserts. We returned a couple of days later to have lunch after our long hike. As darkness approached, we drove around some of the lakes and stopped at Minaret Vista to watch the spectacular sunset and moonrise.

The first full day included stops at Mono Lake, Bodie, and the June Lake Loop. Mono Lake is a majestic body of water covering about 65 square miles. It is an ancient lake, over 1 million years old -- one of the oldest lakes in North America. It has no outlet. Throughout its long existence, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams. Freshwater evaporating from the lake each year has left the salts and minerals behind so that the lake is now about 2 1/2 times as salty as the ocean and very alkaline. The lake is too salty for any fish to survive.

One thing that draws visitors to Mono Lake is the tufas or rock formations. These are visible to varying degrees depending on how high the water level is.Tufas are columns of limestone that took many decades or centuries to form and can be seen above the lake’s surface.

More than 80 species of migratory birds come in large numbers to the lake, including California gull, osprey, western snowy plovers, eared grebes and Wilson’s and red-necked phalaropes. By mid-summer abundant alkali flies and brine shrimp provide an endless food supply for migrating birds.