Mono Lake is one of the oldest lakes in North America, formed about 700,000 years ago on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada near the state border with Nevada. It is a strange, beautiful, and slightly eerie place — the white, mineral-encrusted shores and ghostly tufa towers of limestone rising from the alkaline water look like they belong on another planet.
The tufa formations are the main attraction, particularly the South Tufa area, where you can walk among towers that were once submerged but became exposed as the lake level dropped. The lake is a critical habitat for millions of migratory birds, and California gulls nest on the tufa islands in huge numbers. The Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center in Lee Vining has good exhibits on the lake's ecology and the long legal battle to protect its water level from Los Angeles diversions.
Lee Vining, the small town on the lake's western shore, makes a practical overnight base. From here you can also visit Bodie State Historic Park to the north — one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the American West — and cross Tioga Pass into Yosemite (summer only).