Mono Lake

The mud slide on the El Portal road into Yosemite was cleared overnight, so we were able to continue on our planned route. We did hear that an Intrepid tour, (similar to this tour and a company I'm using for the next trip) had had their campsite flattened in a mudslide. Luckily they were almost finished their trip so hopefully they won't have had their holiday ruined.

We drove into the park and up through the pass in the Sierra Mountains that closes due to snow sometime around now each year. Luckily no snow so far, though by the time we were through we could see fresh snowfall on some of the peaks.

A few scenic photo stops, and there was supposed to be a view of Half Dome, but clouds were in the way.

On down out of the Sierras to Mono Lake. A name I'd heard before, but wasn't really sure why it was an attraction.  The lake itself has no outflow and looses all its water by evaporation. This means it has become 3 times as salty as the sea, and is pH 10 (very alkaline). 

Despite this, there's a thriving ecosystem built on the brine shrimp that lives there. Many birds feed on the shrimp and the lake is a big stop for migrating birds too. Recent diversion of water flowing into the lake to supply Los Angeles has caused significant harm. To the ecosystem, but that has now stopped and things are recovering.

Another feature of Mono Lake are the tufas. Stalagmite looking things, 8 to 12 feet tall or more, formed by mineral rich spring water bubbling up and reacting with the chemicals in the lake.

Another eye catching thing we saw were the flocks of alkali flies. I say flocks rather than swarms as they were all on the ground and reacted like a flock of starlings, all rising together and settling almost immediately back down. They were so thick on the ground it looked like wind blown dried seaweed.

After Mono Lake we made a quick side trip to Convict Lake to see an impressive folded granite mountains side.