Completing the Circle: Round About Mono Lake

 

 

Date: May 24, 2026

Place: Mono Lake, Lee Vining California

Coordinates:

Length:

Level: mildly moderate

 

 

For the longest time it has been my desire to explore the area east of Mono Lake. It is literally, the middle of nowhere, a place with very little human activity. It isn't devoid of human activity - there is a dirt road that surrounds the lake and plenty of evidence that people do occasionally go there for whatever activity. In comparison tho the western side of the lake however, the side closer to highway 395, the eastern side of Mono Lake is practically deserted. 

I've started a bit on that drive once, about a decade ago when I was on a road trip with my friend. After a bit of driving I felt that we had a real risk of getting stranded.  It was winter at the time, and the possibility of getting stranded in in the snowy wilderness didn't appeal to me all that much, so we aborted and returned to exploration along the main roads. 

This time however, we were riding a 4X4 high clearance vehicle, the weather was lovely, and it was early afternoon. We had just finished touring the South Tufa area and we had plenty of daylight to make this slow drive. 

Whitestem Blazingstar, Mentzelia albicaulis

We drove around the lake counter-clockwise. The Mono Lake surrounding road begins where the South Tufa access road splits off from SR120. There was no sign so we used our navigator app.  

Browneyes, Chylismia claviformis

Not too far after we turned I stopped the car - there were wildflowers blooming near the dirt road, and some where of species I haven't seen yet on this trip, and one that was a lifer for me, seeing it for the first time in bloom. 

Transmontane Sand-Verbena, Abronia turbinata

The road doesn't go very close to the lake's current shoreline. I don't know when this path was first made, but I think perhaps it was at the time when the like was much higher, before most of its tributaries were diverted to quench Los Angeles' infinite thirst. A wildfire ravaged the area a few years ago and the charred remains of the old bushes were still very much evident, as was the almost empty ground between them. New growth was already taking over the area, but being a desert, the recovery was pretty slow. 

We reached what looked like a a pullout to a parking area and we stopped there. On a rusty metal pole hanged the remains of an interpretive sign, too dirty and faded to understand what was written on it. Nearby bloomed two-colored phacelia plants, like those I saw earlier on our South Tufa walk. 

Two-colored Phacelia, Phacelia bicolor

The wildfire didn't reach this area. All the way from where we stood to the lake shore the vegetation was intact. At the edge of the water were clusters of tufa. The tufa was fully exposed, a silent testament to how far did the water level of Mono Lake had dropped since 1941 when LA started diverting the lake's water sources. Between the shoreline and the tufa and the field of rabbitbrush was a dark khaki green area of low vegetation, which I already learned to recognize as a wetland, even form a distance. 

While I was looking around Pappa Quail found a bird - a solitary sage thrasher that was standing vigilant atop one of the rabbitbrush bushes. 

Sage Thrasher

I suggested approaching the lake and seeing what we could find there, and Pappa Quail agreed. My navigator showed a path leading from the parking lot to the tufa clusters but no path was clearly visible. I could intuitively guess where people might have walked before and I led us in that direction.

Great Basin Popcornflower, Amsinckiopsis kingii

There was no problem moving at first. The bushes were far enough apart for us to walk between them comfortably. The sky above us was mostly clear but over the Mountains on the west they aggregated in a thick band. 

More wildflowers bloomed in the open spaces between the bushes, pretty much of the same types I saw earlier at the South Tufa area. 

Cushion Cryptantha, Greeneocharis circumscissa

There was a movement far ahead, between us and the lake. Pappa Quail identified them immediately - they were pronghorn! 

Pronghorn is the only antelope species in North America, and they favor open plains, which are often also semi-arid or arid. Pronghorn are fast and long distant runners and the moment they realized we were there they took off running away. 

Pronghorn

Pronghorns were nearly decimated by hunting during the gold rush era. Nowadays, with protection laws in place, their population is making a comeback. It was such a lovely surprise seeing then near Mono Lake! This sighting alone made driving around the lake worth the while for me. 

Pronghorn

The pronghorn moved away to the east and we resumed our steady walk toward the lake shore. The scrub became thicker and the vegetation between them was greener now - there was water close to the surface. 

Phacelia flowers dotted the crowded space between the bushes with pink and yellow. A lemony butterfly made the most out of this fleeting desert spring and Pappa Quail captured it on camera.  

Orange Sulphur Butterfly

We pushed our way through the bushes to the larger flat area that was green with sedges and grass. We passed a dismembered skeleton of a large animal, the bones dry and white with exposure, and scattered all over the place. 

The tufa cluster looked far away still. We thought that walking across the meadow of sedges would be an easy thing but soon discovered that the soil there was pretty muddy, so we had to stick to the edge of the green. 

A few little brown birds were active in the bushes surrounding the wetland area, and Pappa Quail took some moments to catch them on camera. I was amazed at how well these little birds blended wit the background of the dry shrubs. 

Savannah Sparrow

I spotted some more wildflowers in the area flanking the sedge meadow. These were of a species that I haven't seen yet on this trip. 

Slender Cleomella, Cleomella parviflora

We reached the first cluster of tufa. The structures were low and looked very eroded. They were also still quite far away from the lake shore. Once again I thought about how much water did Mono Lake lose because of the diversion of its sources to the Los Angeles Aqueduct.  

Pappa Quail pointed out at an old dead and spiky stump of a bush. There was a horned lark there, he said. I strained my eyes but could barely see anything - the bird stood perfectly still and blended perfectly with the background. Even when looking at Pappa Quail's photo, cropped and enlarged, I have to search for it. It had such a wonderful cameoflage. 

Pappa Quail suggested that we head back and continue our drive. I didn't argue, he usually has a better sense of time than I do. Turning back south I had a wonderful view of the highest of the Coulee Craters that are just south of Mono Lake and highway 120. There is a trail to the top and I promised myself to go up there one day. 

We walked back through the vegetation. We aimed in the direction of the car but we didn't backtrack exactly the steps that we took going out. I found some more wildflowers on the way, including some that I haven't yet seen on this walk. 

Naked Spiderflower, Cleomella sparsifolia

We came across the dismembered skeleton again, and this time we saw the skull of the animal. It was most likely a horse. I knew there were wild horses in the area - we've seen them before between the South Tufa and the Navy Beach, but we haven't seen them on this trip ... yet. 

Horse Skull

The slightly altered path we took also brought us right by a low tufa cluster. The tufa look like it had been eroding for a long while. The tufa was very porous, a roof held up by irregular pillars. It would have been interesting to look inside but Pappa Quail didn't pause and I hurried after him. 

I did pause for the wildflowers of course. As we got near the car from a slightly different direction I saw yet another species of wildflower blooming. This one I was very familiar with, I have seen it in Death Valley and other areas of the Eastern Sierra.

Browneyes, Chylismia claviformis

Pappa Quail also found something that delayed him from entering the car - another horned lark bird, and this time standing out in the open. 

Horned Lark

We continued our drive around the lake, ready to stop whenever we would. The road became much harder to drive, primarily because the turf became very sandy. I have already moved the car to the 4WD gear earlier but it was here that I truly needed it. I don't know if a 2WD wouldn't have been able to drive this road, but it sure would have been more difficult. Especially starting to move again after coming to a full stop. We didn't stop often but we did when we saw the mourning dove perched atop a branch of a dead tree on the side of the road. 

 

Mourning Dove

Another challenge came from the vegetation that flanked the road. In some areas the bushes were very tall and grew thickly right at the road, and frequently into it. There was no avoiding scratching against the hard, spiny bushes. We stopped again when Pappa Quail saw the horses ahead. 

The herd of wild horses was crossing the road right ahead of us. These majestic beings were wild in the truest sense of the word. 

Domestic Horse

Domestic horses were brought to North America by the European settlers. Horses that escaped into the wild established themselves in wilderness. Although corralling and breaking wild horses back into domestic use still occurs, it is not uncommon to see some wild herds in the plains of the southwest. We've seen the Mono Basin herd of wild horses before, and it was a pleasure to see them again. 

Domestic Horse

We moved on. Then all of a sudden I saw something hopping across the sandy road just ahead - a toad! I couldn't tell. I stopped the car and reached for my camera, but the amphibian had already vanished into the vegetation. I had not expected to see any amphibian on the dry sand, so far away from fresh water. The desert is full of surprises. Shortly after that I stopped again for a lifer - a milkvetch species that I've never seen blooming before. I saw a few of them close together, and only in that spot and nowhere else along the drive. 

Case's Milkvetch, Astragalus casei

On we went. We passed slowly some places where the road was very much eroded and rutted. Now I wasn't sure at all that a regular sedan could have made this drive - we sure needed the clearance on more than one occasion. Then all of a sudden there was a fence on out left. he fence looked well maintained but we couldn't see any clear reason as to why it was erected there. 

A few ponds were marked on the map I had of the Mono Basin area on the eastern side of the lake. We soon reached the first of these and found it bone dry. An old, fading sign announced that this was a reservoir. I wondered if people ranged cattle here in the spring. That would explain the fence too. 

I was less optimistic about finding the other ponds after seeing the bone dry reservoir. Nevertheless, we moved on looking for the next spot where a pond was marked on the map. 

The next pond was in a sand dunes area. Like all the other basins of the Great Basin desert, Mono Basin also has an area of sand dunes, but this was the first time I was seeing them. We drove some distance along the dunes until we reached a small hard turf parking area. The pond was right beyond it, nestled between the dunes, and it had water! 

Pappa Quail immediately spotted the birds on the far shore of the pond - they a pair of American avocets in breeding plumage.

A minute later we spotted another avocet, also in breeding plumage, pacing on the near shore not too far from where we stood.

American Avocet

Beyond the pond we could see the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. The clouds that covered them earlier have now spread east, coming closer to us.  

I stepped down to the water to see if I could find any animals in it. The water looked pretty scummy and I guess there were plenty of microbial beings on it, but I couldn't see anything that was big enough to not require magnification. 

On the south edge of the pond was a white area, which I suspected was salt. The water was alkali then, rather than fresh. Still, it was an ok stop for the avocets.

I came upon duck tracks in the sand. I have seen ducks in Mono Lake before, they didn't seem to mind  the salt water. We didn't see any in the South Tufa earlier, but I guess they were somewhere around this pond. 

Pappa Quail found the ducks standing near the water a bit further away. They were a pair of gadwall ducks, and they seemed very quiet and pensive, not doing much. 

Gadwall 

Not seeing much else we climbed back up to where the car was waiting. On our way we saw a solitary blackbird perched atop a tall bush. 

Brewer's Blackbird

The next pond wasn't very far from the first. It wasn't just a pond, but an actual spring of what looked like fresh, or almost fresh water, judging by the vegetation. A small sign announced that the spring area was a nature preserve.  

We were still in the sand dunes area, but the dunes here were fully grounded by the vegetation, and the sand barely visible  because the vegetation covered every inch of the ground around the spring.

Behind the pond was a fence. That fence too looked maintained. We started circumventing the water, looking for wildlife and wildflowers. 

Only a short distance away from the water the shrub forest extended to the horizon, covering the sandy soil. I looked at the clouds that descended from the Sierra Nevada Mountains - it looked like it was raining in the plains where we were just recently. 

Pappa Quail remained by the water while I hopped across a muddy spot and approached the fence. There was a very narrow gap in the fence with a weathered wood sign posted on it: Cattle, with an arrow pointing out, and Toads, with an arrow pointing in. So I guess there were toads in the desert after all. 

Seeing that the sign said nothing about Mamma Quails, I slipped through the gap, getting scratched by the thorny bush that grew to almost barring it. Past the fence was what looked like another pond, and this one was completely choked by vegetation. The pond wasn't very full and the vegetation in its center looked dead. I assumed that until fairly recently the nights would have been freezing temperatures and it would take some time before the frost-dead plants recovered and greened up again. 

 

I made my way down to pond. From above I couldn't see any water but when I got close enough I could see that there was indeed, water below the plants.I didn't see any wildflowers. 

 

Pappa Quail stayed outside the fence. On the the fence I saw some blackbirds and grackles. I didn't see any other birds in the area. Pappa Quail didn't any other birds either, so he focused on the grackle. 

Great-tailed Grackle

Pappa Quail called me. He thought he spotted a toad in the water. I hurried outside but his 'toad' turned out to be a bent piece of wood that stuck out of the surface. A second later my attention turned to the lovely reflection of the clouds in the water. 

It was then that I also noticed the submerged vegetation - masses of brownish, coral-like algae. In vane I looked between the algae clamps - there were no animals in the water.

Pappa Quail was disappointed with the bird count of the drive. He suggested we stop at the North Tufa area, a nice little County Park at the north side of Lee Vining. On a previous visit there which was around this time of year saw plenty of birds. We completed the dirt road, not stopping at any other place, and connected with highway 167 on the northeast side of Mono lake, and turned left toward Lee Vining. On our way we passed the turn to Cottonwood Canyon Road which was a back road leading north to Bodie State Historic Park. I suggested to Pappa Quail that tomorrow when we go to Bodie, we should take that road instead of highway 395, and he agreed.

It was late in the afternoon when we arrived at the North Tufa Park. We found the park empty of human beings - not surprising considering the late hour.   

A few cowbirds were pecking at the well-tended lawn. Pappa Quail took a few off-hand photos of the cowbirds and headed down the path to the boardwalk.

Brown-headed Cowbird

To our great disappointment we found that the boardwalk was gone. It had burned in a wildfire some time ago, and the path was now barred by yellow tape. I gazed longingly at the lake, noting the Coulee Craters on the south and the dark rain clouds that hanged over them. 

Pappa Quail was silent when we got back to the car. An American robin waited for us, perched on the wood fence that separated the parking area from the lawn. That robin was the last bird he documented on this drive. 

American Robin

We drove silently back to Mammoth Lakes where we had reservations for the night. Pappa Quail didn't say much - he wasn't excited with the bird sightings of the day, though he was happy about the pronghorn and the horses. I was silent too - I was in fact, quite happy, having fulfilled my long time wish of driving around Mono Lake and exploring its eastern side. "This was your trip," said Pappa Quail eventually, and I guess that summed up both our feelings. It was on the final hike of this trip, on the following day on our way home that Pappa Quail finally got his avian reward.