Mono Lake: Mono Lake is located in the eastern Sierras; off Hwy. 395 a little south of Lee Vining, which is probably best known as the eastern exit for Tioga Pass and Yosemite National Park. Mono Lake is quite unusual as there is no outlet from the lake. It gets runoff from the Sierras and the only way water leaves the lake is through evaporation. Therefore, the lake is very salty - three times as salty as the ocean. Fish cannot live there but there is an abundance of brine shrimp and alkali flies which might not sound good to us but migrating birds love them.

What is even more unusual are the tufa formations in and around the lake. Tufa is formed by the reaction between the calcium-rich underwater springs and the lake salts which cause the formation of limestone deposits which form the tufa towers. The trail at the south end of the lake takes you to these formations

There is an excellent map of Mono Lake and the surrounding area at Monolake.org