It all starts with a sign. No really, a sign! Just to the north of the West Portal Scenic Viewpoint is an “Adopt-A-Highway” road sign proudly displaying the Mono Lake Committee logo. This is the start of our commitment to maintain the stretch of Highway 395 to Highway 120 East (the one that takes you to Mono Lake).
The CalTrans-administered adoption program gives individuals, organizations, or businesses an opportunity to help maintain sections of roadside within California’s State Highway System. This may involve removing litter, planting and establishing trees or wildflowers, removing graffiti, and/or controlling vegetation.
It was a nervous start to the day, as it had just snowed earlier in the week, and we weren’t certain the highway shoulder would be snow free. Our previous attempts at maintaining our stretch of highway were thwarted by road construction and high winds. With more weather around the corner, it felt important to get this done today. Undaunted by the uncertainty of the conditions our organizer, Project Specialist Olivia Nelson, led us through a thorough safety briefing and we set off.
At a pullout along Highway 120 East we let out a collective sigh of relief. The sagebrush shoulder was indeed snow free, and we could get to work. Dressing for safety, the crew donned hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, and of course high visibility vests. Looking stylish, we started methodically combing the sagebrush along the highway for any bits of trash that we could snag with our grabbers. Soon the sun broke from the clouds, and it turned into another gorgeous day in the Mono Basin. The Mono Craters were covered in a fresh blanket of powder, and the snowy peaks of the Sierra were absolutely beaming in the sun. As our trash bags filled, we joked at how surreal it is to be picking up trash in such beautiful scenery. The day was filled with laughter, lots of asking “how did this get here?”, the occasional friendly honk from a driver, and an awe of our surroundings.
After a few hours of poking around in the sagebrush, we reached our turnaround point. We piled up our trash bags for CalTrans to retrieve later. We drove back to the office, reveling in how fulfilling it was to clean up our beautiful backyard.
Oh, and it snowed the next night.
Top photo by Olivia Nelson.