Tufa! Tufa! Tufa!

Mono Lake, just outside of Yosemite National Park, is famous for their tufas, and its easy to see why. These formations are caused by excess salination in the water. Mono Lake is one of the oldest lakes in North America, and is saltier than the Pacifiic Ocean. So these formations have been forming for thousands of years. They became "above water" when the lake levels dropped significantly, due to mountain stream water, the source for Mono Lake, being diverted to Los Angeles. 

But the Mono Lake area is famous not only for these tufas, but also the Brodie Ghost Town. That's the next blog entry. Ghost towns and tufas - DV Dude is in heaven!