Mono Lake is a mysterious body of water, located 2 hours south of Lake Tahoe on Highway 395, covering about 60 square miles. It is an ancient lake, over 700,000 years old -- one of the oldest lakes in North America. It has no outlet. Throughout its long existence, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierran streams. Freshwater evaporating from the lake each year has left the salts and minerals behind so that the lake is now about 2 1/2 times as salty and 80 times as alkaline as the ocean.
Visitors can enjoy hiking, swimming, boating, and cross-country skiing at the lake. A swim in Mono Lake is unique. The lake's salty water is denser than ocean water, and swimmers can enjoy a rather buoyant swim.
The lake is open 24 hours a day for free. Guided tours are conducted during the summer.
