After a difficult and icy drive down the steep hill from the apartment, we once again hit the highway. Went to visit Mono Lake, a surreal place, that looks totally out of place on this planet.
Here comes another geography lesson ...
Mono Lake is a shallow, salty, soda lake that formed 760,000 years ago. It has no outlet to the ocean, so has extremely high salt levels, so much so that only brine shrimp can survive. However, these brine shrimp provide food for 2,000,000 migratory birds (35 different species) that visit every year.
The strange looking tufa towers formed under the surface of the water from calcium carbonate in spring water, and have only been revealed as the lake has dried out.
Ok, geography lesson over!
Went from there to Convict Lake, which was named after an incident in1871, when a group of escaped prisoners were apprehended here, leading to the making of that "famous" 1951 Western, The Secret of Convict Lake.
Just enough time to revisit Twin Lakes, but couldn't venture any further because roads were too hazardous.
It will be hard to leave tomorrow. It has been an amazing week!