Mono Lake and the Drought

We went down to the site of the Old Marina on Mono Lake near Lee Vining to see how five years of drought have effected the lake level

Easy to see that the lake level has fallen exposing more of the tufa formations.

A docent told us that he used to read the water depth on this gauge, now high and dry.

Turning around we could see what may be another effect of the drought, the results of the recent "Marina Fire".  It's hard to know how much drought may be contributing to fire in the west, fire is something we have always dealt with.  Drought and the extremely hot weather do not help.  

My hat goes off to the firefighters, I sure couldn't do that hard work in the heat.  

The fire burned all around this little lodge across from the lake.  It survived unscathed thanks to the fire crews but I'm sure that the owners were nervous.

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Mono Lake

Mono Lake

Find More beautiful Skies at SkyWatch, Friday; hosted for us by Sandy and Sylvia.

Moonrise at Mono Lake

Often the best moon images are on the evening before the full moon so we went down to Mono Inn for dinner on July 31.

We were not the only ones hoping for a spectacular shot but as we would find the following night, there were cloud in the east.  At last, the moon rose above the clouds.

Cameras came out.

And the setting sun turned the clouds pink and lavender below the silvery moon.

Se more views of the sky above us at SkyWatch, Friday hosted for us by Sandy and Sylvia.

Mono Inn

I rarely post about commercial establishments but on occasion I see fit to break my own rule.  This is one of those occasions.

The Mono Inn sits on Highway 395 a few miles north of Lee Vining, California.  It was built in 1922 as a health resort.  When we built our cabin 25 years ago it was a family run restaurant with good food.

 Later the Inn was purchased by the Ansel Adams family and managed by his granddaughter, Sarah.  It was filled with prints of Adam's photos as well as other photographers.

For some reason, the Adams family closed the restaurant a few years ago and it sat empty until being reopened last May.

The site has a history dating back far earlier than the resort, though.  Next to the inn is this monument to Kit Carson's daughter whose grave is near by.  

Mark Twain visited the area and wrote about it.

But it is not the history that draws us, or the connection to Ansel Adams or even the food, though it is still quite good.

No, the attraction is the view.  

I sits on a bluff to the west of Mono Lake and the view is spectacular.  If one is lucky enough to be there when the moon is near full the location offers an additional bonus, a view of the rising moon.

See more views of the world at That's My World, Tuesday, hosted for us by Klaus, Sandy, Wren an Sylvia.

Sunset at Mono Lake

Evening at Mono Lake always brings out the photographers.  This evening was no exception, but many had started to drift away.  The clouds were too low over the Sierra we all thought.  There would be no color this evening we all thought.  But for those who stayed,  the fire of the setting sun outlined the mountains.  Not quite what we had hoped for but worth the wait.

You can see more skies from around the world at SkyWatch Friday, hosted for us by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia.

Cloud Shadows at Mono Lake

See more shadows at Shadow Shot Sunday, hosted for us by Tracy in Brisbane.

Hazey day at Mono Lake

There was a lot of haze in the air last week, possibly from distant wild fires. I rather like the soft look it gave to this shot from the county park.

There was a lot of bird life but the boardwalk keeps photographers at a distance. The gulls were gorging on brine flies, the avocets were feeding, possibly on brine shrimp and the ducks just floated by. There were phalaropes, and sandpipers and others too far away for me to identify.

For more watery sites, click here.

Mono Lake Storm

We drove down from the cabin hoping for some great shots of the tufa towers. When we got to the overlook it was obvious that on this day the storm clouds not the tufas were the story.

Unusual for May, a monsoonal flow had move in from the southwest.

Many great pictures have been taken of these formations with sunlight shinning on them but sunlight was in short supply this day.

We'll be back, it is only 20 minutes from the cabin and besides, the birding will be better in summer and fall.

For more information on Mono Lake, check out Wiki here.

For more great sky shot, click here.