Topo and GPS tracks for todays ~8mi 3000ft elevation gain out and back from highway 50 to Ralston Peak. This was my 8th peak on the OGUL list.

I parked at the lot near the highway, which turned out to be a minor mistake- there is another lot a few hundred yards up the road.

The Desolation Wilderness registration sign at the actual trailhead. Filled out my paperwork and hit the trail.

The first mile or so switchbacked through some unremarkable fir forest typical of the Tahoe area.

I could hear Tamarack Creek from this point, but the trail never actually came within sight of it.

Desolation Wilderness Boundary sign a typical ~1mi from the trailhead.

The trail gradually got steeper (eventually abandoning the switchback strategy) and switched from pine forest over to high chaparral.

Up above the treeline there was a view over to the Sierra at Tahoe ski resort, which was across the highway and a few miles east.

Heading steeply straight up a rain gully burrowed through the mesquite.