Northern California's Eldorado National Forest is situated just west of Lake Tahoe and includes the glacially carved granite peaks of the surrounding central Sierra Nevadas. The landscape, sculpted by the last Ice Age, is largely barren and raw and recalls the austere black and white images captured by the photographer Ansel Adams. Desolation Wilderness is typical of the forest's stark beauty, with its string of alpine lakes and the giant five-square-mile granite bowl at Desolation Valley. Read More »