Day 29 - Mono Lake

Well, I surrender to my fate - no more adventures, just consuming as a tourist, driving around and taking photos.

But at least I can take beautiful photos of the vastness, of Mono Lake and its bizarre formations. (I really like the landscape here)

They are formed from calcium and other deposits (I didn't pay much attention during the movie at the Visitor Center's cinema - yes, every small tourist town with an info center here has a cinema with better surround sound than what we feel we have, nothing works here without a movie).

The inflows of the lake (the surrounding mountains) have been used for drinking water supply for LA since the 1940s. That's why the water level is decreasing and the formations are becoming visible.

Mark Twain called Mono Lake the Dead Sea of California. The salt content is high, but there are flies in the lake and birds that eat the flies, etc.

On the way back, I'll make a detour to the Virginia Lakes where the die-hard fishermen are.

For those who want to check on Google Maps, there's still the abandoned gold mining town of Bodie Town, which I skipped.

Tomorrow morning, I'm heading to Yosemite National Park, let's see if and where I can find a campsite there...