As Labor Day approaches the Mono Lake Committee’s summer canoe tours wind down for the year. There are two more weekends of tours available—book your tour now so you don’t miss out this season!
Canoeing on Mono Lake is a great way to get to know this unique place. Mono Lake Committee staff are your guides, presenting Mono Lake’s surprisingly simple ecology, varied bird life, fascinating geology, and ongoing human history in an approachable and understandable way. Each tour lasts one hour on the water with stops to see tufa towers up close, examine brine shrimp (using a catch-and-release method), and feel and taste the slippery, salty-plus-baking-soda lake water.
A few weeks ago I took a canoe tour with my family, who were here for a visit. We had a wonderful time on the water getting a tour from my coworker Mara Plato, Project Specialist. She told us about how the canoe tour route has changed weekly this summer as Mono Lake has risen more than four feet due to huge amounts of snowmelt runoff flowing into it after the record winter we had. Tufa towers that stood above the water in June got submerged, became shallow hazards to avoid with the canoes, and now lie safely beneath several feet of water. It’s remarkable to see Mono Lake rising so fast.
Canoe tours occur every Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am, 9:30am, and 11:00am through September 3. Tickets are $20 for children ages 4–12 and $35 for adults ages 13+. For more information, visit the canoe tours web page, send an email to the Canoe Coordinator, Juniper Bishop, or give us a call at (760) 647-6595.
Top photo by Elin Ljung.
