Mono County
North of Bishop, a line running west to east meets, at an acute angle of forty-three degrees, the straight-as-an arrow diagonal line marking the California-Nevada border. To the west, the Sierra crestline and the eastern borders of the John Muir, Ansel Adams, and Hoover wildernesses complete the triangularish box. Cross these boundaries, and you find yourself in Mono County, where canyon roads branch off from the artery that is the US395, where countless lakes abound, and where the desert landscape of the Owens Valley is replaced by pine forests and vast alpine meadows.
The southern portion of Mono County, between Bishop and Mono Lake, is, when all is said and done, temporary land atop a dormant supervolcano centered on Long Valley Caldera, shaped by a chain of eruptions long ago, holding its breath till the next upheaval. Till then, it is a land fed by hot springs bubbling to the surface to create oases of warmth even in the depths of winter, a land where every slice of exposed rock shows evidence of volcanic activity.
We have already visited some of the more storied locations in the county in our exploration of fall colors, and Mono Lake, the crown jewel of the county, will star in its own section of the book. Though it is not within the boundaries of the county, I have chosen to include in this section selected photographs of Devils Postpile National Monument with its iconic hexagonal columns of basalt and countless cataracts and cascades on the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin river. The county is just over 100 miles north to south as the crow flies, but the many loops and diversions we take will make this quite a sinuous journey!
Read MoreThe southern portion of Mono County, between Bishop and Mono Lake, is, when all is said and done, temporary land atop a dormant supervolcano centered on Long Valley Caldera, shaped by a chain of eruptions long ago, holding its breath till the next upheaval. Till then, it is a land fed by hot springs bubbling to the surface to create oases of warmth even in the depths of winter, a land where every slice of exposed rock shows evidence of volcanic activity.
We have already visited some of the more storied locations in the county in our exploration of fall colors, and Mono Lake, the crown jewel of the county, will star in its own section of the book. Though it is not within the boundaries of the county, I have chosen to include in this section selected photographs of Devils Postpile National Monument with its iconic hexagonal columns of basalt and countless cataracts and cascades on the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin river. The county is just over 100 miles north to south as the crow flies, but the many loops and diversions we take will make this quite a sinuous journey!
