Arrival Wednesday, August 13
30 Miles | 30 Minutes
Travel notes: It’s a quick half hour to Mono Lake and no sooner than we pull into the optimistically named Mono Vista RV resort that we regret having given up our idyllic spot at Old Shady Rest back in Mammoth.
Destination notes: After 4 days of dry camping it’s good to have shore power and a laundromat and the LTE coverage is good so Mari is able to spend a productive day back at the trailer while Sibri and Datta go on an adventure to explore the South Tufa monument in tbe Audi.
Google maps once again leads us astray, stranding us at a washed out river crossing, but since we are just a few miles away from our destination we park the car, get the bikes down and fjord the river on foot, hooking up the third wheel to Old Blue (a 20-year old Santa Cruz we borrowed from a friend) and off we go over the dirt back roads and end up getting there in about 15 minutes.
The Tufa are a unique rock formation that look like a cross between coral and a stalagmite, and the effect of them rising up out of the land and water imparts the feeling of a lunar landscape.
Sibri is also fascinated by the low swarms of black flies that cover the shoreline like a low thick cloud and we have some fun making them scatter before heading back to the car, thirsty and out of water. When we get back it's sunset, we pick up Mari and go on another excursion down Old Pumice Mine Road to find the pumice that Tim has told us you can still find in the area.
Turns out we end up at an active pumice mine with Keep Out signs posted so instead of pumice we gather up a bagfull of obsidian along with a few chunks of pumice that are lying about.
On the way back we take a scenic tour of some other nearby lakes, feeling as through we are in Austria or some adorable mountain village, as it starts to get too dark to sightsee we head back for an early night’s sleep because we plan to get a very early start in the morning.
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