We are in Mariposa, Ca. The manager of our motel in Mammoth Lake suggested we spot at the visitor center for Mono Lake on our trip north. Mono Lake is a salt lake with 3.5 times the salinity of the ocean. Nothing lives in the lake except brine shrimp and alkaline flies, but the island in the lake are nesting grounds for many birds. They have salt pillars that grow in the lake. It sort of reminded me of the Great Salt Lake. Apparently, they were involved in a legal dispute a few decades ago with the city of Los Angeles. The guy who engineered Los Angeles water system, Mulholland, had secured water rights and diverted water from the tributaries that feed Mono lake to Los Angeles. The water level in the lake dropped 45 feet and entire eco-systems were threatened. Apparently they reach an agreement to restore enough of the water level to protect the eco-system and still give Los Angeles the water they need. After that we headed into Yosemite Park. At first I thought it wasnt much better then the Cascades but then we started seeing the granite flows and domes, incredible. We entered the park using the east entrance and exited the south. That road south is a motorcycle road. Nothing but sweeping curve after curve. Stopped just outside the park and drove up to Mariposa Grove. It is a grove of Sequoia trees, some of which are thousands of years old.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 05:08:18 +0000
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