Our Yosemite trip continues with Mono Lake, located in the the Lee Vining area. Never heard of it? Neither had I. But, it has some interesting history and features, and some good walks too. Basically, the lake is a shallow lake with no outlet, which makes it highly saline, and creates a unique ecosystem with plenty of birds, brine shrimp, alkaline flies, and something called toufa. (Toufa are weird structures that look a little like giant ant hills, but are formed from the salt depositions- cool, right?) Captain liked exploring the area- especially for the views of the birds!
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| Captain sniffing the alkali flies |
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| Toufa |
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| More toufa! |
Despite Mark Twain once describing Mono Lake as a "lifeless, treeless, hideous desert... the lonliest place on earth" (according to Wikipedia), I ended up taking a ton of pictures here, and found it to be anything but lifeless & hideous!
For more Mono Lake information, see their website.
Next up: the grand finale of our Yosemite trip: Stanislaus National Forest!
LOVE the national forests (and despise the NP's!)! I somehow found your blog (can't remember how) & enjoy it. Also wanted to say that I'm in Sac and love hiking - we've done a lot in Desolation Wilderness this year (I have almost 1 year old and a 9.5 month old V's -both male). I don't know where you live, but it's always fun to do Vizsla get together hikes since they are not a common breed. They call them Viz Whiz's in the UK. LMK if you'd ever like to attend one! Jodi
ReplyDeleteHi Jodi! We love doing V meetups, and hiking! I actually go to Sacramento 2 days a week for work, but live in Berkeley, so try to avoid the long drive when I don't have to do it! But, we may be up for something at some point... if you click on the "Vizsla spotting" tab above, there is a link to email me on that page ("Send me a message" towards the bottom).
ReplyDeletethanks! -Kristen & Captain