Now available on the Mono Basin Clearinghouse are documents pertaining to the construction of the Mono Basin extension of the Los Angeles Aqueduct:

Map of the LA Aqueduct facilities from Lee Vining Intake to West Portal
A 4.3 megabyte download, this high-resolution JPG file shows the control stationing and original names of most of the features of the Mono Basin portion of the LA Aqueduct. Click on the image at right to enlarge, or click on the link above to download the full map.

1933 Map of Mono Basin property ownership, hydrographic stations, wells, test holes, gages, and streams
A 2.4 megabyte download, this high-resolution PDF file shows the Mono Basin as of 1933. Included on the map are (more…)

Will you be in Lee Vining on Saturday morning, July 17? If not, you might want to consider a trip just for this….

From 7:00—11:00am you can get the best pancakes around at the Lee Vining Community Center. This gourmet breakfast fundraiser benefits Lee Vining High School, and with the recent consolidation of Lee Vining High with the Eastern Sierra Academy, a lot of exciting projects need funding.

If you’ve been to the Whoa Nellie Deli, then you know what kind of delicious food Chef Matt “Tioga” Toomey turns out … and you won’t want to miss his pancakes. The menu includes (more…)

The Mono Lake Committee works hard to carry interesting, educational, and eco-friendly books and merchandise. We also love to work with artists to create unique, one-of-a-kind T-shirts, cards, and other gifts. One of these talented artists is Logan Parsons, who painted an incredible mural in our store depicting Mono Lake’s teeming life. Logan’s mural is now on a T-shirt and a greeting card as well, both available online and in the Committee store. Here is a bit about Logan, in her own words:

Tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in Pacific Grove, California, and every year since I was little my family visited the Eastern Sierra to camp during summer vacation. This was how I became connected (more…)

by Julia Runcie and Hannah Doherty

Normally when the two of us head down to Rush Creek on Tuesday afternoons it’s an easy wade through ankle-deep water to reach the eastern bank. We hike through a willow thicket to a very old and overgrown utility road, and then the hunt begins for the six piezometers, or groundwater gauges, that hide in the brush on either side of the trail. At each piezometer we extend a tape measure deep into the throat of a PVC pipe until it hits water, and we record the depth. It’s often a struggle even to catch sight of the pool at the base of each pipe. But last week was different. (more…)

On Saturday July 3rd, Grant Lake Reservoir began spilling for the second time since the year 2000–it also spilled in 2006 after filling up in 2005.

Inflow is dropping as the melting snow runs out, although the warm weather is melting higher elevation snow, which could maintain high inflow for a few more days. Outflow is declining as well after peaking this morning at about 460 cfs (cubic feet per second). The spill peaked at 171 cfs on Thursday and Friday last week, but LADWP was still increasing the flow in the MGORD (Mono Gate One Return Ditch) until this morning. LADWP installed pumps at the spillway in order to ensure it would (more…)

The County Park boardwalk has reopened; go for a visit today! Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

The recently-burned Mono Lake County Park boardwalk has been reopened to the public after last week’s fire. State Park crews replaced the burned section with new boards and applied a coat of linseed oil to the entire boardwalk, which will protect it from the Mono Basin’s dry weather and harsh sun. So head down to County Park and take a stroll to the lakeshore to enjoy the multitudes of birds, sweeping views, and the reopened boardwalk!

Just four days after the fire occurred, California State Park construction crews started repairing the fire-damaged boardwalk at Mono Lake County Park. Saturday’s fire charred a section of boardwalk approximately 45 feet long and an acre of adjacent meadow vegetation. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The burned section of the boardwalk at County Park, which is being replaced this weekend. Photo courtesy of Dave Marquart.

Update: the Boardwalk reopened ahead of schedule on Friday July 9 at 4:00 pm Currently, the boardwalk is closed due to unsafe conditions and to (more…)

Water cascades over the Lundy Lake Reservoir spillway on its way down Mill Creek to Mono Lake. Photo by Sarah Melcher.

I grabbed the flow meter and eagerly drove out to Lundy Canyon, where our beloved Mill Creek runs in its complicated course to Mono Lake. As the intern assigned to monitor Mill Creek this summer, I got to be one of the first people to see Lundy Lake Reservoir spill into the usually less-than-full creek bed.

Typically, Mill Creek is diverted at Lundy Lake to the SCE power plant. Some of that water is then diverted for delivery to water rights holders, but (more…)

We’ve just posted Lee Vining weather data for June 2010 on the Mono Basin Clearinghouse. It was a windy June, with an average wind speed of 4.7 mph–the highest average wind speed since 2001′s 5.1 mph (2005 came close with 4.6 mph). The maximum wind speed of 47 mph was unremarkable.

It was also warm at night in June. The lowest minimum  temperature of 37.6 F was the highest since 2003′s 40.6 F (unofficial data). The average minimum temperature (more…)

The pay phone at the Tioga Gas Mart, at the corner of Hwy 120 and Hwy 395, is the only pay phone “in” Lee Vining.

When I arrived in Lee Vining 15 years ago, there were at least five pay phones in town (there were also about four restaurants that no longer exist). Cell phone reception is (more…)