Friday - July 14, 2006
Friday morning everyone met at 5am and drove a few miles to the South Tufa area of Mono Lake for sunrise. The level of the lake was very high, so we had some fun navigating around the marshy area for a good position. As the sun came over the horizon everything lit up and made for some pretty spectacular pictures. At one point Joss showed up from around a group of tufas with one wet pants leg, exclaiming "at least I got the shot!". By 6:30 the "good" light was gone and we headed back to the motel.
After a classroom session at the Mono Inn and lunch we all met at 4pm and drove to the south shore of Tenaya Lake. There were some great reflections of the surrounding mountains in the lake. We spent about an hour taking pictures then hopped back in the cars for a short drive to the next location.
We hiked to a spot southwest of Olmsted Point where we could see the back side of Half Dome in the distance and waited for sunset. The site had lots of interesting dead trees and even a marmot hanging out on a rock that we took some pictures of. Sunset on Half Dome was pretty spectacular; it turned a deep orange just before the light disappeared.
