Tufa is a limestone formation formed under the surface of the lake when fresh water springs flowed upwards into the incredibly saline and alkali rich waters of Mono Lake. This area was underwater until 1941, when four of the five mountain streams that supplied water to this lake were diverted for the Los Angeles aqueduct system. Since then, the shoreline has steadily receded revealing these pure white limestone towers, which seem more at home on some lunar landscape than here in the desert.
Some of the towers approach twenty-five feet tall on land, while others jutting up from the surface of the lake may be even taller. They are everywhere and remind the observer of great termite or ant burrows, but are as solid and hard as any other piece of limestone.
Without having to get to close to the lake, it is obvious that the shoreline is teeming with life. Alkali flies and their larvae paint the shoreline at least five feet out. Like the gulls that lower their heads and sprint along the shore inhaling as many flies as possible, the Native Americans that once lived here used the fly larvae as a staple in their diet. According to a sign near the entrance, Mark Twain once said of these flies, “If only all flies could be so courteous as these.” The flies are not attracted to humans in the lease. Amazing!
I couldn’t resist, at the urging of a sign, to touch and taste the water. I dipped my finger in, watching the flies scatter. The water feels somewhat slimy and tastes very salty and bitter to the tongue. The sign was absolutely right. This was a very easy, flat trail through a somewhat alien landscape.
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