Category Archives: USA

Mono County in California’s Eastern Sierra region is an outdoor paradise: crystal clear glacial lakes and rivers that attract fly fishing enthusiasts; jagged, steep mountain peaks that are magnets for rock climbers and mountaineers; high alpine meadows, dotted with unique wildflowers which photographers flock to enjoy; salt lakes and their colonies of birds that draw […]

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High in California’s Eastern Sierra – between 1945 metres (6,380 feet) and almost 4000 metres (13,061 feet) – the Mono Basin perches at the north end of the Mono–Inyo Craters volcanic chain. This endorheic drainage basin was created over the last five million years by repeated volcanic activity and the forces of tectonic movement on the […]

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Mark Twain described a “solemn, silent, sail-less sea” and called it “California’s Dead Sea”. Mono Lake is, indeed, other-worldy. The air is hot and still: July afternoon temperatures range from the high twenties (29°C; 84°F) into the mid-thirties (35°C; 95°F) – and rapidly drop into the single digits at nightfall. The waters are dense and […]

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The Eastern Sierra region of California is well known for its magnificent scenery, encompassing unique desert valleys, rugged alpine peaks, vestigial salty inland seas, and lakes of crystal glacial origins.  With millions of acres reserved within national parks, national monuments, state forests, and local reserves, much of it is considered ‘backcountry’, obtainable only by means of […]

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There is a special magic about alpine flowers in their natural habitats! They are ruggedly unique, suited to their particular alpine environments, and yet delicate in their beauty. Whether it is in the Swiss Alps (see: Rainy Alpine Hillsides) or the Snowy Mountains of Australia (eg: Alpine Flowers and Summer Snow), there is something uplifting […]

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