Tag Archives: tufa

South Tufas

wpid11310-AU0E8639-Edit.jpgMono Lake is somewhere I have been past but I had never been able to explore. This time it was a part of our schedule. Fortunately, our earlier activities had taken a little longer than expected so we ended up at the lake in the early evening. Consequently, the light was a lot more appealing and only got more so while we were there. Plenty of other people were taking advantage of this too.

wpid11304-AU0E8558.jpgI had seen pictures of the tufas before but had never appreciated the scale of them. For those unfamiliar with Mono Lake, it has shrunk considerably over the last fifty years as a result of water diversion to Los Angeles. The water that drains into it from the surrounding ground carries minerals and, when it permeates into the bed of the lake, these minerals get deposited around the outlet point. They are a bit like stalactites in reverse. When the water level fell, these mineral deposits became visible and they are known as tufas.

wpid11300-AU0E8546-Edit.jpgThey come in all shapes and sizes. Walking amongst them is very cool. They are surprisingly tough although thinking about it that should be such a shock. As the sun drops down, the light rock picks up the warm glow beautifully. The low sun angle really helps the shapes come into relief.

wpid11314-AU0E8664.jpgWe headed off after quite some time there. As we walked off, Nancy commented on how many photographers were heading in and joked at how they would be laughing at me leaving! The light was certainly turning into something special. However, I had thoroughly enjoyed the time there.

Mono Lake Selfie Guy

wpid11316-AU0E8624.jpgNormally I don’t post pictures of other people unless they know about it. However, this guy is a worthy exception. Our visit to Mono Lake was later in the day and everything was looking particularly cool in the early evening light. There were plenty of photographers enjoying the scenery as well as visiting families. One view looked great and, while a family was in the shot, it looked like they would soon move on. Another photographer had a similar idea and was standing next to me.

There was one other person in the shot. However, he didn’t move off with the family. Instead, he took a couple of selfies. Fair enough. Then he took some more. Okay, no big deal. Then he whipped off his shirt and started taking some more. This was a little more odd. Each time you thought he was done, he would reposition to take more shots of himself sans shirt. We were wondering whether he was ever going to be done.

After a while of waiting for this, I figured he was so keen on himself being photographed, I would oblige. A quick few shots of the master at work seemed a necessary reminder of one of the stranger elements of our visit.