CALIFORNIA'S MONO LAKE: AN ANCIENT DEAD SEA NEAR YOSEMITE

In the middle of the Eastern Sierras in California near Yosemite National Park, you’ll find the ancient and mystical Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve. 

What’s special about Mono Lake, California?

Mono Lake is known as the Dead Sea of California. It’s 2.5 times saltier than the ocean and high in alkalinity. This is because Mono Lake has no outlet and only collects water where large quantities of salt accumulate. 

Where is Mono Lake?

Mono Lake is situated in the Eastern Sierras near the town of Lee Vining. It’s 22 miles (35 km) southeast of Yosemite’s Tioga Pass entrance and 20 minutes from Mammoth Lakes, making it an easy trip from either of these top places to visit in California.  

Saving Mono Lake, California

Mono Lake is also a good example of the power of people coming together for a good cause: to protect Mother Nature and unique ecosystems like this. Mono Lake’s surface level once stood at an elevation of 6,417 feet in 1941.

It was during this year that the Los Angeles Department of Water built a reservoir in the Mono Basin. This aqueduct providing LA with water drained Mono Lake’s main tributaries raising the salinity level of the lake and taking away its freshwater supplies.   

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