Yosemite and Beyond - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 174

Bizarre tufa towers are illuminated by the setting sun in this fantastic landscape at Mono Lake.
Did you know…
The indigenous people of Yosemite Valley used fire as a tool for thousands of
years. Fire was used to encourage the growth of plants used for basket making
and to promote the growth of the black oak—a sun loving species and a staple
food source for Native Americans from this region.
24. Mono Lake
Just northeast of Lee Vining lies a natural wonder unlike any other on the drive: ancient
and mysterious Mono Lake. Nestled in a basin of sagebrush, with volcanic hills rising
around its borders, the salty, million-year-old body of water is bedecked with bizarre nat-
ural statues, called tufa towers. Exposed by turns to view as the lake's water level dropped,
then hidden as the waters rose again, the exquisite calcite sculptures were formed under
the surface when carbonates in the water combined with calcium from freshwater springs
feeding into the lake. Over time the hardened minerals piled up inch by inch, forming hun-
dreds of knobs, spires, and minarets. Tufa formations can also be created by groundwater
that percolates through briny sand.