USA Guide
California
Mono Lake
The blue expanse of Mono Lake sits in the midst of a volcanic desert tableland at the north end of the valley. It looks like a science-fiction landscape, with two large islands, one light-coloured, the other black, surrounded by salty, alkaline water. Strange sandcastle-like formations of tufa – calcium deposited from springs – were exposed after the City of Los Angeles extended an aqueduct (which carries water diverted from the lake's feeder streams) into the Mono Basin through an eleven-mile tunnel. From 1941 until the 1990s the water level gradually dropped by over forty feet, creating the biggest environmental controversy in California; emergency action was finally taken, and the lake's level is finally on the way back up. Mono Lake is the primary nesting ground for the state's California gull population – twenty percent of the world total – and a prime stopover point for hundreds of thousands of grebes and phalaropes.
For more details about Mono Lake and the fight for its survival, stop by the Mono Lake Committee Information Center (daily: late Jun– Aug 8am–9pm; rest of year 9am–5pm; 
760/647-6595, 
www.monolake.org ) in the small town of Lee Vining on US-395, or a mile north at the excellent Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center (May– Oct daily 9am–5.30pm; 760/647-3044). Motels along US-395 include El Mono Motel (open late April– late fall; 760/647-6310; Price: $51-75) and Murphey's ( 1-800/334-6316, www.murpheysyosemite.com ; Price: $76-100). A new eating hotspot in the area is the New York Times-lauded Whoa Nellie Deli, at the Mobil gas station at the junction of US-395 and Hwy-120 just south of Lee Vining ( 760/647-1088). In town itself, try Bodie Mike's (open summer only; 760/647-6432) along Lee Vining's brief business strip, for barbecue lunches and dinner.