Where:	Southern shore of Lake Mono
When:	Early afternoon of Friday, August 11, 2006
Notes:	A tufa (pronounced TOO-fah) is an odd artifact resulting from having a salt lake, with no fresh water inlets, slowly evaporate away.  They are salt (calcium carbonate) deposits that grow on the edge of Mono Lake... one of the saltiest lakes in America.  It's 3 times saltier than sea water, and has a pH of 10.5, meaning it's very alkaline.  You would actually get a mild chemical burn by jumping in it, and your skin would flake away for days afterwards.  (Thank goodness for Wikipedia!)