U.S. 395 Eastern Sierra Drive
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:04 pmI thought I'd post some pics from my drive on 395 from a little south of Bishop, CA to Lee Vining, CA. If you click on each picture you might be able to see the part on the right that's cut off. I stayed at Keough Hot Springs south of Bishop. It was over-priced but an interesting stop. I chose to just dry camp there. It was originally a resort in the 1920s and 1930s and hosted parties, boxing matches, etc. The hot spring pool was closed the day I was there, but the dogs and I walked along the stream running with hot water.
This is the original bath house built in 1920. It's closed now.
Here's a friend we made.
I had wanted to visit the Devil's Postpile near Mammoth Lakes, but it was stilled closed for winter. So we headed on to the June Lake Loop Road.
Mono Lake is a majestic body of water covering about 65 square miles. It is an ancient lake, over 1 million years old -- one of the oldest lakes in North America. It has no outlet. 1-2 million birds rest and nest there each year. Throughout its long existence, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams. Freshwater evaporating from the lake each year has left the salts and minerals behind so that the lake is now about 2 1/2 times as salty as the ocean and very alkaline.
This pic is taken from where the level of the lake WAS in 1941 when Los Angeles started diverting for drinking water the streams that feed Mono Lake. A crime as far as I'm concerned.
High and dry tufa. Tufa is essentially common limestone. What is uncommon about this limestone is the way it forms. Typically, underwater springs rich in calcium (the stuff in your bones) mix with lakewater rich in carbonates (the stuff in baking soda). As the calcium comes in contact with carbonates in the lake, a chemical reaction occurs resulting in calcium carbonate--limestone. The calcium carbonate precipitates (settles out of solution as a solid) around the spring, and over the course of decades to centuries, a tufa tower will grow. Tufa towers grow exclusively underwater, and some grow to heights of over 30 feet.
Sandi
This is the original bath house built in 1920. It's closed now.
Here's a friend we made.
I had wanted to visit the Devil's Postpile near Mammoth Lakes, but it was stilled closed for winter. So we headed on to the June Lake Loop Road.
Mono Lake is a majestic body of water covering about 65 square miles. It is an ancient lake, over 1 million years old -- one of the oldest lakes in North America. It has no outlet. 1-2 million birds rest and nest there each year. Throughout its long existence, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams. Freshwater evaporating from the lake each year has left the salts and minerals behind so that the lake is now about 2 1/2 times as salty as the ocean and very alkaline.
This pic is taken from where the level of the lake WAS in 1941 when Los Angeles started diverting for drinking water the streams that feed Mono Lake. A crime as far as I'm concerned.
High and dry tufa. Tufa is essentially common limestone. What is uncommon about this limestone is the way it forms. Typically, underwater springs rich in calcium (the stuff in your bones) mix with lakewater rich in carbonates (the stuff in baking soda). As the calcium comes in contact with carbonates in the lake, a chemical reaction occurs resulting in calcium carbonate--limestone. The calcium carbonate precipitates (settles out of solution as a solid) around the spring, and over the course of decades to centuries, a tufa tower will grow. Tufa towers grow exclusively underwater, and some grow to heights of over 30 feet.
Sandi
) did a segment on it and the tufas. You got a different perspective.