Mono Basin

Mom and Tommy at Mono Basin Visitor Center

There are an awful lot of National Parks around national parks.  Mono Basin is a natural park near Yosemite.  It has a huge lake!
  We actually didn't even have it planned to go here but we saw the sign and the visitors center and decided to stop in. 



Mono Basin was frequented by our own Mark Twain! 

Tommy on the trail of the wildlife

Me in front of Mono Lake

He wrote about it in the book, Roughing It!


Mono's story isn't necessarily a good one.  Once a thriving freshwater lake, man has managed to all but destroy it's ecosystem.  In the 1940's Los Angeles began to siphon off freshwater from the contributing tributaries of Mono.  This halved the lake and increased the salinity.  The ecosystem began to decline and when the lake dropped low enough landr bridges led to roosting seagull islands.  Eventually the problem was brought to the public's attention and laws were put in place to ehelp recover some of the ecosystem. 
That being said, Tufa exits and can be seen above the water.   "Tufa?  What the heck is Tufa?", you ask.  Well, I asked the same thing.  Turns out that Tufa is found in a variety of places including Mars!  Tufa is made from Calcium and Carbonates.  Springs rich in Calcium mix with water rich in carbonates and create limestone towers underwater.  As the lake water reduced the towers became visible above the water line
What I didn't know is that there are evidently amazing structures on the south side.  I took a few pics of the tufa showing from the visitors center.  If I am ever back that way I'll have to look at the south side towers! 

Tufa Towers

Recreation of Kuzedki Hut