Guide to Mono Lake: Exploring Tufa Towers, a Home to Trillions, and the Fight for Its Water

Mono Lake is one of the oldest lakes in North America — likely more than 760,000 years old and possibly over a million years old. For all that time, Eastern Sierra streams have been pouring in, carrying salts and minerals down from the mountains. With no outlet for roughly the past 80,000 years, water can only leave through evaporation, and the salts stay behind. A handful of species have evolved to thrive in exactly these conditions, and they do it in staggering numbers. I'll share how to best explore this special lake, plus all the details about its existence and the life it supports that make it so fascinating beyond its beauty.