Mono Lake is a visual and geological delight under almost any setting, and this includes winter sunrises. On this frigid morning, with temperatures well down into the single digits, “steam fog” blew across the relatively warm water surface beneath an undulating blanket of stratus, that itself sometimes reached the surface as fog. All of this diffused the brilliant sunrise colors of an unseen cloud deck high above, yielding an otherworldly scene. Best of all, there wasn’t another human within miles. I had this quiet and beautiful moment thoroughly uncluttered by distraction, the only noise being the faint lapping of small waves against lumps of tufa that punctuate the shoreline. The tufa towers offshore — normally bright and sharp, stood as quiet and dark sentinels, silhouetted before the dreamy lighting. It even made this Texan forget the bitter cold, however briefly.
5 ESE Lee Vining CA (21 Jan 6), looking NE.
37.9434, -119.027