After stops for gas and groceries in Tonopah, as well as a quick tour of the mining museum, we headed West towards Yosemite.  We dropped down to 1st gear for the climb out of Benton Crossing into the Inyo National forest.  On our way to Lee Vining and Yosemite, we stopped on the southern shore or Mono Lake to admire the Tufa formations, formerly underwater structures formed when underwater springs injected calcium rich water into Mono Lake’s carbonate rich water, forming calcium carbonate towers.  As the water level receded, thanks to diversion of inlet streams to San Francisco, the tufa structures became exposed.

Mono Lake has no outlet, so the water is very mineral rich and twice as salty as ocean water.  The black line below is Alkali flies on the water, one of the few creatures than can survive in these salty waters:

We also saw brine shrimp blooms underwater.  The shrimp and flies support the bird population that call Mono Lake home:

After leaving the tufa site, we visited the Inyo National Forest visitor center where we learned about the lake and the kids received their Junior Ranger patches.  We could see a wildfire burning near Bodie in the distance. Permits are available to kayak out to and camp on some of the islands on Mono Lake, something we would like to try in the future.

Leaving Mono Lake we ascended the 6 miles of 9 percent grade to Toiga Pass, the eastern gateway to Yosemite.  It was 1st gear all the way at 30 miles an hour.  I once pulled over to allows cars by, and was barely able to get my engine RPMs enough to get going again.  Lesson learned!

We pulled in to the campground shortly before dark.  Tomorrow, our adventures in Yosemite begin!

We drove 155 miles today.    See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.