Ten years after the initial Walking Water event, this year’s Lake to Lake Walk will once again connect Mono Lake and Owens Lake during a three-week-long walk between the two locations.
The walk will begin at Mono Lake on Labor Day, Monday, September 1. The public is invited to attend the opening ceremony at 7:30am at South Tufa/Navy Beach, where members of the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a Tribe will lead the group in prayer.
While the walk itself is by invitation only, select events taking place during the walk and the closing ceremony at Owens Lake on September 22 are open to the public. Anyone who is interested in joining those events can register at the Walking Water website.
Walking Water describes the Lake to Lake Walk as: “Water activists, policy makers, tribal representatives, artists, nonprofit leaders, representing a global community, including Los Angeles, Inyo County, the Bay Area, and the Central Valley will be walking approximately 150 miles from Mono Lake to Owens Lake/Patsiata. The intentions of the ‘Lake to Lake Walk’ are to contribute to an ever-growing Indigenous-led movement which holds water at the center of life and to raise awareness of the ongoing, iconic water story between Owens Valley/Payahuunadü and Los Angeles, spanning more than 100 years. The walks are a call for meaningful, committed and action-oriented dialogue between Los Angeles, as majority landowner in Owens Valley/Payahuunadü, and local inhabitants. The walks are a call for a water-sufficient Los Angeles, in an age of climate change, and for sacred lands and waters to be returned to the Nüümmü/Newe peoples.”
Top photo courtesy of Walking Water.