Mono lake is fed by streams and natural springs that well up through the ground from snow melting and running off the nearby peaks. It's a volcanic region, with some rather large volcanic peaks to the south (just to the left of this photo). There is one crater near the edge of the lake as you drive in, reachable by a dirt road. You can park and hike up to the edge and look down into the pit of the crater.

The mountains and snow pack of the Sierra Nevada, while 500 miles north of Los Angeles, are the source of a good chunk of the water for metropolitan water district. Much water has been redirected and channeled off, causing a reduced water flow to some locations, including Mono Lake.

The water of Mono is very briny, salty. Nothing lives in there except for some brine crabs, tiny little creatures that flitter around just under the surface, and huge swarms of alkali flies. The really weird thing about the alkali flies is that they don't like people. I am used to flies buzzing around and landing on skin. These flies actually move away as you walk through them, avoiding you completely. It's an interesting and somewhat fun experience.

The tufa were created from the natural springs that welled up under the water of the lake. Over hundreds of years, the chemicals in the lake water reacted with the spring water, creating a sort of crusty layer of rock. The layers grew year after year, just a tiny bit, but over hundreds of years they slowly ascended to the surface of the lake.

When LA started taking water from the Sierra Nevadas, the flow of water into the lake was reduced and the lake level began to drop, exposing these towers of weird sediment called tufa. Today, you can walk through tufa towers on dirt paths. Some of the towers extend 10 or 15 feet high. They are weirdly shaped with crags and pointy things.

Because it is politically very incorrect to actually change anything in the world, the California state government decided that the water level of Mono Lake had to be restored. The environment must always be kept exactly the same, with no change. Ever. So a law was passed. Water is being redirected, managed, replenished, slowly over time. The lake is rising again. Hopefully it will rise only to its former level and not keep rising, flooding out the entire area. But with the government involved, who knows.

So, in 20 years or so, the tufa will no longer be visible. Personally, I think this will be sad. I liked the tufa.

There are thousands of great photos of the tufa, all better than mine.

The slope in the distance behind the tufa in this photograph is where the Clint Eastwood western movie "High Plains Drifter" was filmed. Nothing is left of the complete western town they constructed there.