Our All-Inclusive “Resort” at Mono Lake!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Three Days and Four nights all-inclusive stay on the shores of Mono Lake, California- for FREE!!! Boy, do I love this boondocking life! (Well, not totally free. We are using up some propane to run the fridge and stovetop, for a little generator use when we use up the stored solar energy, and an occasional burst of heat from the furnace. Not much.) But, otherwise free. We showed up here in the Inyo National Forest with lots of water, empty waste tanks, food, beverages, and solar panels and a generator for electricity.


After leaving Washoe Lake State Park outside of Carson City, Nevada, we traveled south back into California on Hwy 395. It rained on and off and as we climbed to higher elevations, it got a lot colder. The mountain tops were covered with fresh snow. We stopped at the overlook before the big descent to Mono Lake and spent some time looking at the view and the hundreds of stickers visitors had plastered all over the guardrails there. Then we drove through the town of Lee Vining, past the Whoa' Nellie Deli, we are saving it for breakfast when we leave here, and onto the gravel road that travels near the south shore of the lake.

Rain clouds along US395

Looking down at Mono Lake from the north overlook, about 1500 feet higher

Stickers collected on overlook guardrail

We were searching for the great boondocking spot we found last Spring. It was off on a spur road along Rush Creek with a long distance view of the lake, and two big shade trees on the bluff over the creek. Where was it? Oh, there! Oh, someone had a tent pitched on it... Oh, well, there were lots more national forest spots to boondock on. We continued down the road toward the beach with the tufas. Holy Guacamole! On our left was a very short dead-end spur road with a stupendous view of the lake. Actually, the 360 degree view was awesome! Greg backed in and found a perfectly level spot and we were set. Our all inclusive free resort spot on the shores of Mono Lake. Now if we could only find a cook and maid and we'd be set. Oh, that's me...

Free boondock campsite

Our view toward the South Tufa National Preservation Area

Rain on the lake. The Mothership is landing!

It rained on and off the rest of the afternoon and evening, but cleared up by Monday morning. Greg has been biking the sandy roads and up to the volcanic craters. We both hiked along the beach and checked out the tufas from our last visit. Mono Lake- Panum Crater and Eery Tufas! The tufas are not as dramatic as then. We had interesting clouds but now the sky is perfectly clear. The moon is setting early and it's very dark, quiet, and the sky is chock full of stars!

Sagebrush steppe landscape on the flat former lake bottom

Pumice boulders crusted with tufa

Tufa formations that grew when the lake was 40 or 50 feet higher

Thousands of brine flies congregating on algae

Drifts of dry brine fly pupae shells blown up on the beach

Rush Creek near the lake shore

The jeep roads were often loose sand, making steep climbs hard work and fast descents slippery

Climbing up to see this small, recent cinder cone - about 600 years old and 500 feet tall.

Looking down on the intact cinder cone, not yet breached by erosion

Tomorrow morning we'll move on. Time to find a dump and more water. That's the drawback of our small fuel efficient rig. The tanks are small and we can only store so many extra jugs of water without totally restricting our movement inside the RV! We've gotten good at water conservation, but tanks do finally fill up and water runs out. I'm a food hoarder, no place to put much, but I still do it, so we almost always have lots of extra food left when we are forced by water issues to move on.


We're going to keep moving south along the eastern Sierra Nevada and take our time. The temperatures farther south are still very warm. Tomorrow we'll visit Devil's Postpile National Monument near Mammoth Lakes. The road was still closed by snow when we were here last Spring. Then possibly boondock again near Hot Creek, after finding a dump and water. From there we want to drive to Lone Pine and boondock for a while in the Alabama Hills at the foot of Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. Everyone's seen this area. It's been a popular movie location for decades, especially for Westerns. It's also a popular boondocking site, although sometimes a bit crowded if a movie is being filmed!