This post was written by Sarah Melcher, 2011 Mono Lake Intern.
Canoeing Mono Lake is an incredible way to see the lake, whether it’s for the first time or the twentieth. Even for those who have done walking tours at the lake, being out on the water allows you to see everything from an up-close-and-personal point of view.
We offer one-hour, naturalist-guided canoe tours on Saturdays and Sundays at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00am. Aside from learning a plethora of information about the lake and its fascinating water history, you get to catch brine shrimp, paddle through tufa groves, and even see a tufa tower growing before your very eyes!
Although the whole morning is wonderful on Mono Lake, we especially encourage visitors to select the earlier tours, as there is always a slight chance that the wind will pick up in the late morning and cancel a tour. Lately, we’ve noticed that the 8:00am canoe tours have had more space available than other times of the day—so here’s our call out to early morning paddlers! We know it might be hard to get up and out on the lake that early on the weekend, but we can tell you for certain that you will not be disappointed. The lake is calm, crowd-free and bursting with birds dining on brine shrimp and alkali flies in the cool hours of the morning. Early mornings are a truly amazing time to paddle.
If you want to book a canoe tour, you can do so online or by calling the Mono Lake Committee at (760) 647-6595. Hope to see you out on the lake soon!