Harold asked if Mono Lake has been used in any films. It figures prominently in Clint Eastwood's 1973 film _High Plains Drifter_, for which an entire town was erected near the southern shore. The lake can be seen in the background of many scenes, but there are no closeups, and I don't think any tufa formations are visible in the film. In fact, the lake looks fairly ordinary from a distance. I wonder, however, if Eastwood chose the location because of its symbolism. Before the drifter leaves the town, he compels its residents to paint every building red and change the town’s name from "Lago" (lake) to "Hell." Certainly, anyone who attempts to drink from the lake or swim in it would find it a form of hell. Here’s Mark Twain’s first description of the lake, from chapter 37 of _Roughing It_: “We held a council and decided to make the best of our misfortune and enjoy a week's holiday on the borders of the curious Lake. Mono, it is sometimes called, and sometimes the "Dead Sea of California." It is one of the strangest freaks of Nature to be found in any land, but it is hardly ever mentioned in print and very seldom visited, because it lies away off the usual routes of travel and besides is so difficult to get at that only men content to endure the roughest life will consent to take upon themselves the discomforts of such a trip.” Several web sites have good pictures of Mono Lake along with discussions of how it was used in Eastwood's film. Try this link: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.vormedia.com/images/high_plains_drifter_09.jpg&imgrefurl=http://vormedia.com/%3Fp%3D244&h=284&w=638&sz=40&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=7BrCJBG8je6zbM:&tbnh=61&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522high%2Bplains%2Bdrifter%2522%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rls%3DDVFA,DVFA:1970--2,DVFA:en%26sa%3DN If that godless long reptile of a URL doesn't work, simply Google "high plains drifter" and "mono" together.