Catch a breath, relax and gaze. That’s one way to take in Mono Lake. Photo buddies Marlene, Laura and I took it in with our cameras. We were there as part of our weekend trip to the ghost town Bodie.
Mono Lake is a large, shallow saline soda lake 8.321 miles long. It’s at least 780,000 years old and is among the oldest lakes in North America. While we enjoy its beauty, migratory birds call it home for a while and brine shrimp swim its waters.
You can see Tufa Towers as you walk down to the lake. These salt towers are formed because having no outlet, trace amounts of salts and minerals brought into the lake by freshwater streams have accumulated over the centuries. This resulted with Mono Lake having a salinity two to three times the Pacific Ocean. Tufas are the result of the combination of minerals in fresh and salt water. They take on all sorts of shapes and various neutral colors.
The images you’ll see in this post are of sunset and sunrise (Only Laura can get me to wake up at 4 a.m.) when the lake looks most beautiful. Just catch a breath, relax and look.
Sunset on Mono Lake.
The sun falls behind dark clouds.
A little closer to the lake. I didn’t walk all the way down because I wasn’t feeling well.
Twin Tufas!
This Tufa looks like a sitting bear!
Tufas have amazing textures and sometimes dark and lighter colors are mixed in the same Tufa.
I can’t believe I left my tripod home! I’ve worked hard to become “one” with it, and I left it home. As I post about Bodie and Mono Lake, we are visiting Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks and Fresno, California. I’ll post about this visit back to the parks after a more than 30 year absence next.
So far, I haven’t needed the tripod, but I did need it in Bodie. Why, to get great HDR images, you need to bracket and that’s difficult to do handheld. I’ve done it, but it’s much easier with the tripod. I did a lot of bracketing in the ghost town, because that seems to be a good way to present the decaying buildings and machinery.
Founded in 1876 as a gold mining town, Bodie is a now ghost town in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of Mono County, California.The nearest is Bridgeport,  where we stayed. I talked about the altitude (Bodie is at 8,379 ft or 2,554 m.) and my reaction to it in my previous post. Bodie is also recognized it as a National Historic Landmark, became a California Historical Landmark,  and officially became Bodie State Historic Park in 1962. We were three of the about 200,000 yearly visitors.
Because of the ghost town’s altitude and other health issues, I had a difficult time. However I thoroughly enjoyed it. I just took my time and rested when I needed to. Back home, I had a lot of fun with pushing sliders in Lightroom and processing images in black and white.
Here are some of my favorites in Bodie. Mono Lake will be in my next post. And, I’ll tie a string around my finger regarding my tripod when we head out on the road again!
Although this barn is standing on its own, the dark skies lent this to a monochrome image. Shot on day 2.
We were allowed in one house. This is the living room.
The dining area.
Main street.
This old wagon probably hasn’t been moved from this building in years.
Rusted car.
Listing building.
The church.
The church steeple. Notice the new roof! They are doing repairs to some of the buildings.
Another image looking great in monochrome.
Looking through a store window.
Our first day was sunny and hot. Our second day, overcast and cool. Shot the first day.
Buildings listing into each other. Shot day 2.
Main street. Notice the two by four bracing the building.
The mining area of the town. I didn’t walk up there.
I love rusted gears.
Another rusted gear.
I think this is a new door knob.
The second day, we went up to the cemetery. Two old head stones in this fenced area. They are replacing old fencing with new wood fencing.
A newer head stone with pretty wildflowers around it.
Altitude–I guess I can’t do much of it any more. On a recent trip, the weekend of June 26, to the ghost town Bodie which is located east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California and 75 miles southeast of Lake Tahoe, I experienced the effects of altitude sickness.  Now a California State Park, Bodie is located 12 mi east-southeast of Bridgeport, at an elevation of 8379 feet.
So, what does all that mean? Probably when you’re 72, you should take oxygen with you! I went with photo buddies Laura and Marlene. All of us were affected by the altitude. But, it was worth it as you’ll see in the images I’m posting. In spite of the altitude, the two-day trip was fun. Only Laura could coax me out of bed at 4 a.m. to catch a Mono Lake sunrise.
But, let me start at the beginning. The scenery was so beautiful when we were driving to Bridgeport, our home base that I finally started shooting out the car window. Laura would have pulled over, but there was no place for her to park. I did the best I could. We got to Bridgeport, Bridgeport, the county seat of Mono County, California with an elevation of 6463 feet. just in time to get settled and go to dinner. This is a small town and it was decked out in red, white and blue for the July 4th festivities. I do wish we could have stayed.
I’ll begin this multiple post with scenes shot on the way and Bridgeport.
This was only part of the beauty we past on our journey to Bridgeport.
The clouds were awesome.
The rocks reminded me of Sedona, AZ.
A Bridgeport sunset. Not so spectacular in color, but look at those clouds.
The Bodie Hotel in Bridgeport.
The front doors of the Hotel.
The bench in front of the hotel.
We ate at this bar and grill.
This is the courthouse.
A view of the building’s top.
A cannon at the courthouse.
Another motel all decorated for the holiday.
An old, rustic wagon on the grounds of the motel.
A street light.
An old truck parked in front of the courthouse.
This sporting goods store is still advertising “Film.”
Slow Shutter Speed 