Mono Lake is one of the most bizarre, but most starkly beautiful places I’ve had the pleasure of visiting.  The water loss in the lake over the last 70 or so years has exposed the ghostly and oh-so-strange tufas–rock outcroppings made of calcium carbonate that form because of the lake’s chemistry.  Because of the tufa formations and the stunning Sierra Nevada backdrop, Mono Lake is also very popular with photographers.

On our recent trip, I arrived at the South Tufa parking lot at 6 am–1 hour before sunrise only to find 28 other cars in the parking lot.  Not wanting to be in every photographer’s shot, I left and drove to a nearby parking area, where I was alone.  I hiked to a “field” of sand tufas I know about and was grateful to put a new spin on an oft-photographed lake, as well as avoid the crowds at South Tufa (while I was hiking, I counted another 15 cars pull in the parking lot!).

The sand tufas remind me of something similar to Isengard Tower in the Lord of the Rings:

Sand Tufas at Dawn, Mono Lake, California, October 2009

Sand Tufas at Dawn II, Mono Lake, California, October 2009