Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Lee Vining Creek under a blanket of snow

This post was written by Rosanne Catron, 2009 Project Specialist.

After the noisy and somewhat unsettling winds on Sunday, it was lovely to wake up to the calm of a powdery snowstorm on Monday. By this morning, the Lee Vining Creek canyon was covered in a hushed blanket of snow. In the summer, throngs of tourists visit the creek trail, but today the only creatures disturbing the snow were deer and rabbits. The Mono Basin is beautiful in all seasons, but the snowflakes etching the tree branches and pillowing the rocks show that winter, while quiet, definitely has a majesty all its own.

Lee Vining Creek Under Fresh Snow. Photo by Rosanne Wilson.
Lee Vining Creek under fresh snow. Photo by Rosanne Wilson.