Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve

Trailhead and parking. Access is via a dirt road off US120 which all vehicles should be able to managed with little difficulty. South Tufa Grove is well signed from both US395 and US120.

Small fee is payable at the South Tufa Grove location.

The tall towers of limestone known as tufa are particularly prevalent on the south shore of Mono Lake and even more so right here at the tufa grove.

Created by the reaction between salty lake water and the calcium rich underwater streams which flow into the lake from the flanks of the Sierras, the resulting limestone accumulates and forms a type of inverse underwater stalegtite. Although formed underwater, the 200 to 900 year old tufa you find here has become exposed to the air by receding lake waters caused by the controvercial diversion of a river for drinking water, that would normally feed the lake.

Tufa towers can grow at a rate of up to 1 inch per year, and the limestone stacks here vary in age from 200 to 900 years.

Alkali flies are usually unavoidable here by the edge of the lake. Often hatching from eggs laid on tufa, the flies make themselves busy by eating microscopic lake algae and bugging visiting tourists. Although air-breathing, these flies not only spend most of there time on the water's surface, but also can be found under it - they trap oxygen bubbles within hairs on their body and carry them underwater to facilitate breathing.

After walking through the tufa grove headland, and along the coastline admiring the views across the lake, head back inland back towards the parking lot.

Looking across Mono Lake, attention is drawn to the islands situated to the north. The largest of these is the 13 square mile volcanic bulge of Paoha rising 290 feet above the lake.

Volcanic activity is evident everywhere here and the same forces responsible for the young crater-marked landscape around the lake were also responsible for the creation and uplift of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Despite being a hostile environment to fish, life thrives in Mono Lake on a smaller scale, and most obviously in the shape of the brine shrimp and the alkali fly. Organisms on microscopic level also flourish here, including even in the deepest parts of the lake where little oxygen exists.

In 2010 NASA announced that by probing the depths of the lake, their research has found life of a type never before found on Earth. Scientist observe that life requires six essential elements - carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur - or at least they did until they discovered a gammaproteobacteria microbe catchily known as GFAJ-1 which substitutes arsenic for phosphorus. Much more well know for being poisonous to life, the arsenic discovery is opening up new frontiers in microbiology and pushing back the boundaries in terms of how we defiine life.

So-called because the military used the area for training until the early sixties, Navy Beach is now the preferred location to put kayaks into the water.

Much quieter than South Tufa Grove and still very accessible, this area can be a pleasant place to take a relaxing dip.

The Mono Lake visitor center is well worth a visit whether you're looking for a general overview of the land or if you'd like to delve deeper into either the natural history or human history of the land.