“The world is a book,
And those who do not travel it,
Read only one page.”
St. Augustine
First, I journeyed back to my childhood home
Then, I journeyed to a Native American shrine
Then, I journeyed to a place time has forgotten
And here, I saw sights both ancient and divine
As I stepped out of my truck after my very long trip
I knew that I had now arrived at a very ancient world
The alien landscape surrounding me was at first chilling
Haunting enough to probably make someone’s blood curl
As I slowly ventured down to the very desolate lakeshore
Its purple skies were filled with hundreds of ancient birds
These tiny winged creatures were no larger than my fist
But of all the things here, they were not the most absurd
I was soon surrounded by thousands of tiny black insects
They were scooting all over the ground, but not in the sky
They are known at this very strange and mystifying place
As the extremely unusual and quite bizarre - Kutsavi Fly
As I gazed out upon this haunting isolated body of salt water
I saw hundreds of strange feathered duck-like aquatic creatures
They were madly dashing about devouring something in the lake
And their amazing appetites were truly their most amazing feature
As I peered into the water to see what they feasted on
I truly could not believe what I saw with my own two eyes
This eerie lake was absolutely teeming with tiny fuzzy creatures
And seeing these incredible sea monkeys was quite a huge surprise
As I gazed down upon this wondrous marvel in this eerie ancient lake
The water surface soon erupted with the splash from a gigantic scaly tail
Perhaps I had just caught a quick glimpse of an enormous prehistoric beast
Since men who once roamed here still talk about The Ancient Serpent’s Tale
As the ancient, mesmerizing, crimson red sun finally began to set
Over this uniquely captivating and truly haunting other world place
I suddenly remembered the fascinating tale of its Fly-Eating People
And an expression of awe and wonderment soon filled my entire face
This place that time forgot is called Mono Lake, and it’s at least 700,000 years old, making it one of the oldest existing lakes in North America.
It’s also a naturally occurring salt-filled lake with no outlets. The only way water leaves Mono Lake is through evaporation. The Sierra Mountain streams that flow into it contain only trace amounts of minerals and salts, but these minerals and salts remain here forever, their concentrations continuously growing over the centuries, making it far more saline than any of the earth’s oceans.
This extremely ancient lake is also a geologist's dream. It’s ringed by many volcanoes – both fairly new and extremely old. Two of the islands on the lake are volcanic domes. And although these volcanoes aren’t presently active, this area shows many signs of potential eruption.
And this ancient eerie place is definitely not lifeless – it teems with all sorts of intriguing and unusual creatures, including brine shrimp, alkali flies, and many different species of ancient birds.
Brine Shrimp – Residing within Mono Lake’s extremely salty waters are an estimated 4-6 trillion tiny brine shrimp, about the size of a human thumbnail. In the summer, this place resembles a gigantic shrimp soup bowl. These tiny crustaceans, also known as sea monkeys, have no practical food value for humans, but many birds regard them as haute cuisine.
Alkali (Kutsavi) Flies – They don’t fly, buzz, or bite. These tiny black bugs scoot along the ground very silently and very quickly, and they merrily swim in this lake, surrounding themselves with tiny air bubbles which enable them to breathe underwater.
Wilson’s Phalaropes - These tiny birds arrive at Mono Lake in midsummer to molt their feathers and to eat. By the middle of September, they disappear once more, departing on a journey that takes them to South America. The fact that they fly over 3,000 non-stop miles is amazing enough, but what’s truly astonishing is that they reach their lengthy destination in an unbelievable 3 days.
As for The Fly-Eating People – before the first Europeans ever saw Mono Lake, a group of ancient people calling themselves Kutzadika’a inhabited this region. This name roughly translated means ‘fly eater.’
As for The Prehistoric Beast in the Lake – The Paiute Indians who once roamed this area tell the legend of a gigantic sea serpent who some believe still lives on the deep dark bottom of Mono Lake. If you linger here at night, perhaps you’ll be lucky enough to spot him when he silently slithers ashore in the eerie bright moonlight to survey his truly unique and ancient realm.
On my many travels around this wondrous planet of ours, I’m often drawn to its eerie haunting places; places filled with ancient history, mystery, magic, incredible creatures, and the Creator’s magnificent Master Touch – places like California’s prehistoric Mono Lake.
©2009, Mr. Ed
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Georg
And as always I enjoy your accopanying
informative write
Peace be with you
William
Be always safe,
Karen
(((HUGS))) and love, Karla.