Mono Lake

Mono Lake is a large beautiful lake located twenty miles south of Bridgeport in Mono County. It is in a dry region of California at the base of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, near the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park. Mono Lake is approximately five miles long by five miles wide. The lake has an average depth of fifty–six feet and is one hundred sixty feet and its deepest point. Mono Lake has two large islands, Negit Island and Paoha Island, along with numerous rock outcroppings. The lake is in a geologically active area and is close to the Long Valley Caldera. The most recent volcanic eruption in the lake vicinity occurred at Paoha Island three hundred and fifty years ago.

The lake has an interesting history and is believed to have been formed at least 760,000 years ago, making it one of North America's oldest lakes. Besides evaporation, Mono Lake has no natural outlet. It is fed by snowmelt and water descending from the nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains. The dissolved sales in the runoff thus remain in the lake causing increased levels of salt concentration. The high salinity and high alkilinity of the lake due to not permit fish to survive. An attempt by the California Department of Fish and Game to stock the lake with trout failed. The lake is famous for the Mono Lake brine shrimp, which can be found nowhere else in the world. Mono Lake also supports a significant migratory bird population.

Mono Lake is also famous for its tufa rock formations. These interesting, unusual formations that grace Mono Lake's shores are made of limestone. The highest concentration of tufa towers is located at the South Tufa grove, which is on the southern end of Mono Lake, just off Highway 120 east. On the southern shore of Mono Lake, tufa formations rise over thirty feet above the lake. The reason tufa formations are particularly visible is because the water level of Mono Lake has been lowered considerably in the last century as a result of the diversion of area water to Southern California that began in 1941. Click here to see great pictures of Mono Lake's tufa formations.