Mono Lake Levels

 

Mono Lake, March 1988
Lake Level 6,379.2'

My most recent visit to Mono Lake provoked me to wonder whether I'd ever experienced such a high lake level (~6,383.8 feet) on any of my previous sixteen visits over the years. I looked back through my photo files and found that I actually had. In July and October 2006, the level was 6,384.5 feet, about 8.4 inches higher than now (give or take, since lake levels are reported by month, not by day, and the June '24 levels have yet to be tallied).

The lowest lake level I ever experienced was in June 1992, when the lake was at 6,374.4 feet (9.4 feet lower than now), so low that it opened up a land bridge to Negit Island, giving access by coyotes and other non-winged predators to nesting gulls.

Another thing I noticed about my photos during high lake levels (Oct. 2006, Aug. 2007, Oct. 2011, and Oct. 2023) is that they don't include shots of the South Tufa area. The only exception is a shot from July 2006, which shows how little beach existed between the tufa towers and the surrounding desert plant life.

Finally, I was surprised to find that until this past week, I last photographed the South Tufa area in 2013! I've been going instead to Navy Beach or Black Point, or I've skipped visiting the lake altogether despite being in the general area, due in part to a mildly humbug attitude about sharing a place where I once found solitude that has now become a stop for tour buses. 

Even without a tour bus showing up on this trip, I found myself being followed around by a boisterous gaggle of shutterbugs, and a little later I even had to wait on one rude photographer who walked into my shot so he could get his own shot!  It was kind of hilarious, but then again, there will always be people with single-minded purpose who will take what they want from Mono Lake.

Which is why it's so awesome that David Gaines was able to stop Goliath (the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, or DWP) from sucking the lake as dry as Owens Lake to the south, a project it began in 1941. Although the lake level is mandated to rise to the so-called Public Trust level of 6,392 feet (about eight feet higher than it is now, and a level not seen since the 1960s), DWP's continued water diversions from the streams that feed Mono Lake seem likely ensure that level is never reached. The more water that flows into the lake, the more DWP wants to divert.

Land Bridge to Negit Island, June 1992
Lake Level, 6,374.4'

South Tufa and Wild Barley, June 1992
Lake Level, 6,374.4'

Tufa and Glowing Clouds, September 1997
Lake Level, 6,382.2'

Brine Flies at South Tufa, July 2006
Lake Level, 6,384.5'

Tufa Spires, October 2008
Lake Level, 6,382.3'

Photographers, October 2008
Lake Level, 6,382.3'

Sunrise at South Tufa, May 2009
Lake Level, 6382.3'

Island in the Lake, October 2009
Lake Level, 6,381.7'

Tufa Silhouettes, August 2010
Lake Level, 6382.3'

Photographers, June 2011
Lake Level, 6,382.6'

Tufa and Photographers, October 2011
Lake Level, 6,383.7'

Beach Tufa, May 2013
Lake Level, 6,382.0'

Tufa and Encroaching Plant Life, June 2024
Lake Level, 6,383.8'

There's a great shot by George Ward on the cover of John Hart's 1996 book, Storm Over Mono, that shows a low meadow of foxtail barley around the South Tufa area. I photographed foxtail barley at Mono Lake on my June 1992 visit but have never seen it there since. Speaking of changes, if the lake ever does regain its Public Trust level, I wonder if any of the tufa towers will still rise above the lake's surface. Check out these photos from the old days before 1940. (My favorite is Mono Craters, 1930, where a river runs through it.)

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Mono Lake

 

Surf's Up at Mono Lake

We'd never stayed in the cottages at the Lake View Lodge in Lee Vining before, so I called ahead to make sure the room had a toaster. We planned to prepare all our own meals during a three-day visit, and bagels were our go-to breakfast. We were told that, no, the cottages do not have toasters... so we brought our own large toaster oven. Guess what. The rooms do, in fact, have toasters. Moreover, the cottages have pretty much everything you need: a 2-burner gas stove, a small sink (with sponge and dish soap), a microwave, a small fridge, a toaster, a coffee-maker, pots and pans, dishware and silverware, and even sharp kitchen knives. About all we needed to bring was our food and spices, and a small cutting board.

Temperatures were mostly in the mid-80s during the day, which was well above Lee Vining's June average of 70 degrees, but we also experienced a high of 95 at one point. It was great to be able to retreat to the cottage for cool showers and cold beers.

In addition to visiting Mono Lake, we made short jaunts to McGee Creek, the June Lake Loop, upper Lee Vining Creek along Poole Powerplant Road, and Lundy Lake, ostensibly to find interesting photo and painting opportuntities. In the end, Mono Lake and its environs provided the greatest interest.

We drove up over Sonora Pass since Tioga Pass wouldn't open until the next day. We made a couple of stops along the way to check out the powerful flows along the Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River. 

The aspens are all a beautiful green righ now in Dunderberg Meadow (a favorite location for viewing fall color).

Mono Lake Vista Point
"Save Mono Lake" has long been a rallying slogan, so I got a smile out of the updated bumper sticker. The lake level was about 6,383.8 feet, still shy of the 6,392-foot management level.

Despite being shy of the desired water level, this was the highest lake level I could remember experiencing. It was actually a little frustrating to try to get around and find compositions with so little dry land available.

The wind was blowing pretty strongly onshore, and splashing against the tufa to keep photographers from getting camera lenses too close to the edge.

Late afternoon storms added to the drama among these fascinating formations. Despite visiting the lake many times, I was still surprised to find how dense and heavy tufa is when I picked some up at the Mono Lake Scenic Area Visitor Center just north of Lee Vining.

Old routes that led through the tufa formations during low water levels were no longer dry....

Here's hoping for a third straight wet winter next year to get that water level up another eight feet. That should make getting around even more of a challenge!

I also wondered if all the rain has contributed to more dense plant life around the tufa. I don't recall the brush always being so impenetrable.

Typical mountain traffic in the morning along the June Lake Loop....

The first lake you come to is Grant Lake.

Sierra sulphur-flower buckwheat coated the hillsides along parts of the loop road.

The McGee Creek Pack Station

Mule Ears Along McGee Creek Trail

This was as far up as I hiked since I was worried that my wife was getting cooked in the heat while painting back at the trailhead. 

McGee Creek's gorgeous upper canyon entices you to keep going higher.

After leaving the South Tufa area the day before, we spotted an interesting burn area that was sprouting prickly poppies, and decided to return to check them out. On the way I couldn't resist this desert view of the lake from the road near Panum Crater.

The South Tufa formations are in the foreground, with whitish Paoha Island in the distance and black Negit Island farther back.

Prickly Poppies thrive in the old August 2020 burn area at Mono Lake.

A faint rainbow shines over the lone standing snag in the 2020 Beach Fire zone.

Bare branches in a fire-scarred landscape. This area used to be full of brush and jackrabbits. Another nearby burn area I photographed in 2016 (between Mono Craters and I-395) has already recovered its brushiness to the point where you can no longer even tell at a glance that it ever burned.

More prickly poppies, with Mono Craters in the distance.

A long view toward the South Tufa area.

This panorama was stitched together from several frames shot with a 300mm lens from a nearby dirt road...

...where the shadows were long, indeed.

As the day pushed toward its end, we drove down to Navy Beach to check out the sand tufa formations.

I was impressed that these relatively delicate formations survived the Navy's presence in the 1950s and '60s. I pictured a lot of building infrastructure being here, but a docent at the visitor center said there was no actual base. Instead, the Navy used the lake as a testing area for the likes of new-and-improved depth charges....

We got pretty lucky with a stunning sunset.

I was amazed to find that my Motorola Thinkphone camera could get this shot, which compares very favorably against the exposure-stacked version produced by my Nikon D800E and Aurora HDR software.

Sunset with Sand Tufa

Some of the sand tufa looked like the ancient ruins of a lost civilization.

I had to wonder if the CHP patrol car actually pulled the color-coordinated RV.

Walking around Lee Vining we stumbled onto the Mono Basin History Museum, which was closed for the day, but several interesting artifacts were available for inspection on the grounds outside.

We had a nice view of Black Point while out on our walk, just past the museum and close to the high school (which celebrated eight graduates this year). We didn't discover the Lee Vining Creek Trail across the street from the Lake View Lodge until sundown on our last day, so we had to save that for next time.

Lee Vining Mono Cone

Vacancy, Lee Vining

Nicely's Restaurant Sign

Lee Vining Sunset

On the way home via Tioga Pass, we stopped to check out a couple of areas where I was drawn to some roadside aspen trees.

Aspens along Poole Powerplant Road.

Eye of the Aspen

A few iris in a wet meadow.

Ellery Lake, on the way up to Tioga Pass.

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