Oregon Hikers

I saw a similar snag with those odd X-patterns near Union Creek
west of Crater Lake NP a couple of years ago. I sent pictures
to a friend who works in forestry at OSU -- and he and his
colleagues were mystified.

I am curious too what caused those X patterns on the snag. Thought I would share my photo of the same snag I took last march. I've never seen anything like that.

Another pic to add to the research file....

So this tree is not unusual. Looks like we have a mystery on our hands?

Great shots and report and I'm glad you made the hike towards elk meadows. How was the Newton Creek Crossing. There was a neat log there and I wonder if it is still there.

Interestingly here is another post regarding what looks like the same tree.
http://oregonstate.edu/admissions/blog/ ... gyle-tree/

All three pictures are the same tree, right?

Waffle Stomper wrote:Interestingly here is another post regarding what looks like the same tree.
http://oregonstate.edu/admissions/blog/ ... gyle-tree/

That does look like the same tree, although there's no mention of where the picture was taken.

Waffle Stomper wrote:Interestingly here is another post regarding what looks like the same tree.
http://oregonstate.edu/admissions/blog/ ... gyle-tree/

I placed the two pictures side by side for comparison and they definitely are the same tree. The pictures were taken from different angles but there is enough overlap to identify and compare patterns, small branch snags and so on.

Unfortunately all the OSU post can tell us is "This one has even stumped the researchers at North America’s number one College of Forestry"!

Despite its partial regularity I doubt it is man-caused. If something had been wrapped around it then indentations should have resulted. But it has me stumped!

The Examiner article contains another picture and a discussion but no explanation.
http://www.examiner.com/x-6251-Portland ... rgyle-Tree

My curiosity really has me going on this. I too don't think it s man caused regardless of the regularity. I've searched everything from bugs to to fungus to climate caused scaring and don't see anything similar anywhere. Now I'm going to pay more attention to the next tree I see. Because I think I've seen this elsewhere.

Maybe it's a congenital defect? Like some misfiring piece of DNA that has corrupted the growth pattern of the tree?