Before coming up into the Eastern Sierra's, we had never heard of a Tufa before. Luckily we had talked with some fellow photographers down in the Piraha Canyon area who had told us to make sure to stop and spend a day or two exploring these formations.

What a strange oddity the Mono Lake Tufa's are. Mono Lake is 10 times saltier than the ocean, and is home to a thriving shrimping industry. Imagine telling someone you're a shrimp boat captain in the Sierra Mountains, you'd probably be locked up for being crazy. But it's true!

The lake isnt as strange as it is beautiful, especially if you go in the early spring so the mountains still have snow on them in the backgrounds like they did when we visited.

Mono Lake is also only a short 1/2 hour drive from Bodie Ghost Town and right before the infamous Tioga Pass into Yosemite National Park.

The whole Mono Lake area is under major attack from water levels being historicaly low. Please check out this website - http://www.monolake.org - and do your part to see what you can do to help.

If you were to purchase any of these images, the watermark will not be on the print. Thank you for looking!