Mono Lake
From Reno, I followed Highway 385 south to Mono Lake, located just east of the Tioga Pass entrance to Yosemite National Park. Mono Lake, nestled in a basin of sagebrush bordered by volcanic peaks is over 760,000 years old, making it one of the oldest lakes in North America.
The lake has no outlet. For thousands of years, streams have carried their minerals into the lake and evaporation has removed water from it. As a result, the mineral content has risen to almost 10 percent. The salty waters afford swimmers a delightful sensation of buoyancy. While fish can’t survive in these alkaline waters, it is still one of the most productive lakes in the world. It supports millions of brine shrimp, alkali flies, and migratory birds.
In fact, Native Americans who lived in the Mono Basin collected the abundant alkali fly pupae and used them as one of their main food sources. The Kutzadika’a traded with the Yokuts for acorns. The Yokuts called the Kutzadika’a the Monache meaning “fly-eaters”. Monache was shortened to Mono by the early explorers in 1850 and it is how the lake got its name.
A picture of the lake’s tufa is what attracted me to the area. Much to my chagrin, due to the snowy winter, I believe the lake’s high water level covered much of the tufa, but there was still some to be seen on its southern shores. These strange calcite formations are formed under the water’s surface when carbonates in the water combine with calcium from fresh water springs that feed into the lake. Over time, the hardened minerals pile up forming knobs and spires.
After visiting Mono Lake at 1,951 feet above sea level, I followed Tioga Pass road through the eastern entrance of Yosemite up to 9,945 feet, the loftiest highway pass in the Sierra Nevada. The drive led me through golden meadows, past numerous alpine lakes, beneath the shade of evergreens, and offered spectacular views of some of the park’s many granite peaks and domes.
We made brief stops at a handful of pullouts along the way including a visit at Tuolumne Meadows, Tenaya Lake and Olmsted Point. Tuolumne Meadows is the largest subalpine meadow in the Sierra Nevada. Numerous streams wind through the golden grasslands attracting a handful of deer.
Tenaya Lake, once named Pywiak (lake of the shining rocks) by Native Americans, is surrounded by massive granite domes, a rock climber’s paradise. Its blue waters and sandy shores offer a lovely place for picnicking and fishing. Petey and I simply admired the view.
Olmstead Point is named for famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) when Tioga Road was opened to automobile traffic in 1961. Olmsted is best known for his design of New York’s Central Park. He was the chairman of the first commission to manage Yosemite Valley. The overlook affords commanding views of
Tenaya Lake and its surrounding peaks.
In addition, a geologist pointed out to me the most fantastic part of the view from his perspective; the glaciations evidence and a checker board pattern. Chambers of magma deep within the earth slowly crystallized over 100 million years to form hard granite rock. Over time, erosion by rivers and glaciers formed and polished the rock. In addition, large rocks toppled down on the bedrock as ice melted away.
From the overlook, we continued west to a spur road leading to a trailhead to May Lake. The poorly maintained, narrow road wound through the forest two miles to a parking area which led to a variety of trails. I took the trail to May Lake which basically ascended 1.2 miles up to the lake. The view of the lake was somewhat anticlimactic relative to the views the zig zagging trail provided of the granite peaks blanketed in dark clouds, yet reflecting still reflecting light from the sun in the west.
I had planned on making May Lake my final stop before going in search for a campsite outside the park. The ranger at Mono Lake suggested that the park was full and that I could camp anywhere along Evergreen Road just outside the northwestern entrance for free. As I headed west along Tioga Pass Road, I came to a screeching halt. VANilla was one of many cars in a line that ended up stretching more than three miles. The road became our parking lot for three hours as firefighters and rangers managed a forest fire that was started by a lightning strike a week ago. Park visitors threw Frisbees, skateboarded, and even jogged in the open lane while we waited to be cleared through the smoke and flames. Others skipped into the woods to relieve their bladders while some drivers simply gave up and turned around. I guess they didn’t need to get to the western side of the park, as exiting and going around the park would have taken longer. After I edited some photos and read a bit, Petey and I had dinner in VANilla and took a short walk before we were finally directed in the dark through the burning forest.
We eventually made it outside the northwestern edge to Evergreen Road where we found a spot to pull over. It was not exactly how I had pictured it. Others were pulled over as well, but we were more or less stretched out along a two lane highway. With the thought of active bears, a fire burning, and on a roadside, I expect it will be a restless night…ETB