Stufas and the June Lake Loop.

Stufas in Mono Lake.
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Mono Lake, Lee Vining, 20-10-2002.

There are several campgrounds near the creek west of town but a friendly chap I met in a restaurant yesterday after arriving, offered me a free place in his garden right in the middle of town. Three big Harley Davidsons are my neighbors in this garden. I`ve to admit american politics for me, an european, might be agressive and sh*t but so far the locals in this massively big country have been really nice to me. I`ve enjoyed hospitaliy to the max so far! Lee Vining seems to be mostly a transit point, a city where people can gas up, eat and sleep and buy the necesary supplies, a place where all the big mobile homes that overtake me during my hard work on my bicycle during the day, have a break from Lake Tahoe to Yosemity National Park or vice versa.

Freshwater springs bubble up from the alkaline water of the lake creating these marvels of Mother Nature.

A page from my sketchbook.
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My excursions are obvious, Mono Lake with it weirdly shaped stufas, a sort of natural towers made up of calcium and alkaline containing water. Freshwater springs bubble up from the alkaline water of the lake creating these marvels of Mother Nature. Leaving my bike behind I explore the lake on foot. An enormous expanse of water set under a hot desert sun. The glistening coming off this fast lake and caused by the white-hot sun that is beaming down on me, is painfull to my eyes. I ignore it, I wanna see these stufas.

My other excursion of the day is the very scenic road called the June Lake Loop. I cycle through pine forests surrounded by tall mountains like Carson Peak and Reversed Peak looking down on me from there ancient place high up in the sky. Up and down it goes - everything that goes up has got to eventually get down again - untill I reach the biggest of the lakes, aptly named Grand Lake. I`ve lunch in a big wooden building, deer antlers above the entrance and inhabited by big and bulky men - everything really is big in the States - green rubber boots on their feet and clad in dark green raincoats. Fishing rods placed against the walls telling me these guys are anglers probably hoping to catch the trouts that these lakes are famous for. Some of these guys offer to bring me back to Lee Vining with their truck. They obviously don`t get the point of a tourist travelling the world by bicycle. I refuse politely while I eat my lunch before continueing on to Silver Lake and June Lake. Quite a nice and relaxed day really.