Mono Basin is a fine place to contemplate geology and immense spans of time. Mono Lake itself is an ancient body of water, and one that has not always looked like it does today. The lake is probably 3/4 of a million years old, and its ancestor lake was, at times, much deeper and larger than it is today. At times its waters rose high enough to overcome its current landlocked state and drain either north or south. (To really bend your mind, its waters may have drained to ancient Lake Manly in Death Valley.) Today, as large as the lake is, it is greatly diminished in size and depth by comparison.
The lake is not the only story here, though. It sits at the base of the steep eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, and the mountains rise almost immediately from por its west shore near the town of Lee Vining. There are two large islands in the center of the lake, Negit and Paoha, both of which are volcanic cones. More volcanic evidence stretches roughly on a north-south line through the lake, extending south of Mammoth Lakes. The photograph shows a small portion of the Mono Craters, just south of the lake.
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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
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