Along Highway 395 in the Eastern Sierras, Mono Lake is part of a formerly vast inland sea, which like the Great Salt Lake in Utah has been shrinking through the centuries. The salinity level has reached a point where it is more saline than the oceans. A plan has been in place for years to slowly add water to the lake so that it does not reach a point where the brine shrimp and other organisms which feed migratory birds can't live in it.

The odd formations around the lake are known as "tufas", which are made of a type of limestone, a byproduct of the chemistry of the lake and surrounding area.