Monday, June 3
What do vanlifers do when it is 97 degrees the day before and there’s an excessive heat warning where they were planning to go (Death Valley predicted to be 113 deg today)? Why they move north and to higher elevations, of course! So after getting an oil change in St George UT we headed to Las Vegas and then north through the Amargosa Valley along the east side of Death Valley through Nevada and into Lee Vining CA, where it was breezy and 73 deg.
After a solid seven hours drive, we pulled into Mono Lake, one of the oldest lakes in North America. Its salty and alkaline waters support green algae and the brine shrimp and alkali flies that feed on the algae. It is estimated that there are 12 trillion brine shrimp in the lake! Mono Lake’s spectacular tufa towers on the south shore were made from calcium carbonates that formed around the mouths of ancient springs. Initially they grew under water but as the lake levels have dropped over the years, some of these towers are now exposed above land on the southern shore of the lake, making great homes for migrating shore birds.
Boondocked in a gravel lot in Lee Vining with two other nomads directly across the street from the Mono County Museum.
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