These 15 Amazing Lakes In The USA Are A MUST On Your Bucket List

A lakeside view can truly be special. Along these bodies of water, you’ll find the kind of lake towns that have all but single-handedly rendered the word “quaint” a cliche. They’re the stuff of vacation dreams, even if right now dreaming about them is the closest we can get: Idyllic little slices of fudge-fueled paradise where everybody from pontoon-bound revelers to quiet beachcombers finds common ground on the sand.

You will find Mono Lake in Mono County, California. It is a saline soda lake. Researchers say this desert lake was formed more than 760,000 years ago as "a terminal lake in an endorheic basin." It has no outlet so this causes a lot of salt to accumulate there. The salt also makes the water there alkaline. The ecosystem here is surprisingly productive. The lake provides a habitat for 2 million migratory birds every year that eat the alkali flies and shrimp living there. Image courtesy of @karl_shakur