Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve

Facilities and Acitivities
Hiking, swimming, boating, photography and cross-country skiing are just a few of the many activities you can enjoy at this unusual lake.

The lake is two hundred feet deep, and its sluggish waters are so strong with alkali that if you only dip the most hopelessly soiled garment into them once or twice, and wring it out, it will be found as clean as if it had been through the ablest washer-woman's hands. While we camped there our laundry work was easy. We tied the week's washing astern to our boat, and sailed a quarter of a mile, and the job was complete, all to the wringing out. If we threw the water on our heads, and gave them a rub or so, the white lather would pile up three inches high.
- Mark Twain, about Mono Lake, in Roughing It

At the Mono Lake Area, California State Parks teams up with the U.S. Forest Service and the Mono Lake Committee to cooperatively offer interpretive programs. Rangers lead tufa walks at the South Tufa area at 1:00 pm every day, May through September. In addition, from late June through Labor Day, tours are also offered at 10am and 6pm. In October, tours are offered Saturdays and Sundays at 1pm.

Join us for a bird walk at the Mono Lake County Park/State Natural Reserve boardwalk at 8:00 a.m. Fridays and Sundays, mid-May through Labor Day.

A spooky Moonlight Walk is offered each October on the full moon close to Halloween.

So uncertain is the climate in summer that a lady who goes out visiting cannot hope to be prepared for all emergencies unless she takes her fan under one arm and her snowshoes under the other.
- Mark Twain about Mono Lake, in Roughing It

This mysterious tufa area is the best place to visit if you have time for only one stop. The South Tufa Area’s loop trail will take you through tufa and along the lakeshore. A boardwalk trail below the Mono Lake County Park allows access to the north shore tufa area and marsh. A trail at Panum Crater leads to the dome and crater rim.

If You Go ...

The lake is two hundred feet deep, and its sluggish waters are so strong with alkali that if you only dip the most hopelessly soiled garment into them once or twice, and wring it out, it will be found as clean as if it had been through the ablest washer-woman’s hands. While we camped there our laundry work was easy. We tied the week’s washing astern to our boat, and sailed a quarter of a mile, and the job was complete, all to the wringing out. If we threw the water on our heads, and gave them a rub or so, the white lather would pile up three inches high.
- Mark Twain, about Mono Lake, in Roughing It

A swim in Mono Lake is a memorable experience. The lake's salty water is denser than ocean water, and provides a delightfully buoyant swim. Old timers claim that a soak in the lake will cure almost anything. Keep the water out of your eyes or any cuts, as it will sting. People who wear contact lenses will want to take care not to get the salty water between the lens and your eye for the same reason.

Photographers come from all over the world to capture the interplay of light, desert, and water. The natural history of the lake is described and explained in a one-mile self-guided nature trail at South Tufa.

Winter
Winter is also a wonderful time to visit for photography, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. The road to South Tufa is kept plowed, allowing year ‘round access except immediately after large storms. South Tufa, Old Marina, and the State Natural Reserve boardwalk below the Mono Lake County Park are all wonderful places to cross-country ski when snow conditions permit.

South Tufa Area
The South Tufa Area access is located a few miles south of Mono Lake proper and Lee Vining. To get there, head south on Highway 395, turn left onto Highway 120 going east, toward Benton. You’ll pass the Panum Crater on your left, then another mile or so further east you’ll see, on your left, the road leading to both the South Tufa Area and Navy Beach. Take the dirt road and bear left at the fork. The road will end in the South Tufa Area parking lot, with the entrance kiosk.

More Information
U.S. Forest Service
Mono Lake Committee

Boating
All types of boating are permitted on Mono Lake, although all access to the islands is restricted between April 1 and August 1 each year to protect the nesting gulls. It is advisable to stay near shore while boating, and to be alert for sudden high winds. Afternoon winds are very common on Mono Lake, and they can be surprisingly dangerous. We recommend launching canoes and kayaks at Navy Beach, on the south shore, where a parking lot is close to the water. For those with boats too large to carry, an unimproved launch ramp is available near Lee Vining Creek. Stop by the Scenic Area Visitor Center for directions.

Mono Lake
Mono Lake is over 1 million years old -- one of the oldest lakes in North America. It is what remains of Lake Lahontan, a massive Ice Age lake that covered much of the Great Basin. It has no outlet. Throughout its long existence, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams. Fresh water evaporating from the lake each year has left the salts and minerals behind, so that the lake is now about 2 ½ times as salty and 80 times as alkaline as the ocean.

Half a dozen little mountain brooks flow into Mono Lake, but not a stream of any kind flows out of it. It neither rises nor falls, apparently, and what it does with its surplus water is a dark and bloody mystery.
- Mark Twain about Mono Lake, in Roughing It

Mono Lake's unique beauty by Dave Marquart >

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