Mono Lake and Panum Crater 11.26.16

Meeting daughter Kate at Love Note and Burly’s house this morning, we decided to go to the Visitor’s Center in Lone Pine.  The rest of the group was headed to Death Valley to many of the places we had visited earlier.     Upon looking over our options, we headed north to Mono Lake.

Mono Lake is a salt water lake, just like Salt Lake in Utah.  It was formed 760,000 years ago.  Due to a lack of an outlet for the water, high levels of salts have accumulated in the water. When fresh water springs bubble up under the lake water it forms a solid limestone like material  which eventually forms towers called tufa.

fullsizerender
Tufa that once was under water but now is along the shoreline.
fullsizerender
Kate, Frank, and  Dori standing next to tufa formations along the shore of Mono Lake.  Notice the  island of tufa behind us.

The city of Los Angeles bought up the water rights in this area.   This has caused the level of Mono Lake to be significantly  lowered, so that many of the tufa towers are no longer in the water.   In 1994 the naturalists won legislation against the Los Angeles Water Authority  to reduce its comsumption of water so that the lake could return to a certain level to preserve  the  natural habitat for  birds and other species.   To date, the water has still not returned to  the mandated level.  However, it is a significant that measures have been taken to preserve Mono Lake.

fullsizerender
Frank was hoping to find a pickleball court!

Ever walk along the rim of  a volcano’s crater?  Well that’s what Kate had planned for us next.  Panum Crater is a plug volcano that erupted about 650 years ago and is adjacent to Mono Lake.

img_2143

Kate and Frank hiking along the rim trail.

Sound like an easy hike?  Well, it wasn’t!   I had no trouble getting my 10,000 steps. On one side we had a great view of Mono Lake.  However,  the wind was so strong, I was afraid I was going to be blown away! Fortunately, I must have been just heavy enough to stay grounded.

img_2134

img_2131
Panorama of Panum Crater

In the picture above Frank  is on the left and I am on the  right.

In the evening we enjoyed turkey leftovers at Love Note and Burly’s house with all of the clan and of course the two dogs, eight puppies and Cocoa the chicken. Since we were flying home the next day, Frank, Kate and I said our goodbyes to all before heading to our hotel. Kate’s “hiker family” really were wonderful hosts. We felt very thankful to be so warmly welcomed for this Thanksgiving weekend in Lone Pine and the eastern Sierras.   What great memories!

3 Replies to “Mono Lake and Panum Crater 11.26.16”

  1. Wonderful. Am learning so much . Never heard of this lake area. I love your adventures with Kate.

Comments are closed.