Soda lake stargazing

Whether you're right on the shore or passing high above it on Highway 395, Mono Lake is a bit of an eerie sight at night. Looking like something between termite mounds and alien skyscrapers, towers of tufa—a type of limestone that forms at cool temperatures, often underwater—lurk throughout the soda lake's shallows. Long ago the tufa towers were submerged, but streams feeding Mono Lake were diverted to Los Angeles in 1941. This dropped the endorheic lake's levels by many feet, exposing a surreal setting once exclusively enjoyed by the lake's unique brine shrimp.