Windy Ridge's Wind-Sculpted Bristlecones Above Alma

Most people drive through Alma on the way to a fourteener and never look up at the bare ridge to the west. Up there, at around 11,700 feet on the eastern flank of Mount Bross, a stand of bristlecone pines has been holding on for a very long time. Some of the trees are over a thousand years old, and the wind that names Windy Ridge has bent and polished them into shapes that look more like sculpture than timber.

The Forest Service set this place aside as a scenic area in 1964, and it sits inside Pike National Forest under the South Park Ranger District. The reward for getting there is twofold: the ancient trees up close, and a wide-open look across South Park spreading out below you.

Getting up is the catch. From Alma you turn onto Buckskin Gulch Road and then onto Forest Development Road 415, and the route asks for a high-clearance vehicle. It’s a summer outing, since snow closes the road the rest of the year. You can also park lower and walk the road in if your car would rather not.

These are slow-growing, protected trees, so stay on the route and leave them undisturbed. For road conditions, access, and seasonal closures, check with the South Park Ranger District before you go.