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What caused the mysterious Argyle Tree?
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Argyle patterned tree photographs © John R. Howard
Hiking on the east side of Mount Hood at 5,000 feet elevation, climbing switchbacks on a wooded south-facing slope, I looked up and saw the most unusual thing: Among the towering Douglas firs, true firs and mountain hemlocks stood a stark white, barkless snag. The dead tree was over 100 feet tall; I could not even see its distant top in the tight-packed forest canopy.
Dead snags are not unusual. Killed by disease or some bygone forest fire, a lifeless tree trunk can stand upright for years before weakening insect damage, wind, snow or avalanche topple them to the forest floor.
What was odd about this particular snag was the strange pattern on its exterior. From ground level to as far as the eye could see upwards, the tree had a regular, repeating diamond pattern that looked for all the world like argyle. It was as if the snag were wearing a head-to-toe argyle stocking!
Close inspection showed that the diamond patterned lines on the dead tree trunk were ridges, not indentions. The diamonds measured about six inches across, and the pattern continued around the entire 40-inch circumference of the trunk.
We wondered if perhaps the tree had long ago been wrapped in some sort of manmade fabric that would cause the tree to grow up with the unusual markings? But would not wrapping cause indentions rather than ridges? Did some Paul Bunyan in the early 1900s wrap rope, netting or burlap around a sapling that caused the tree to grow with such a marvelously patterned trunk? Was this the handiwork of some arbor defacing jokester from yesteryear? Might the pattern have been caused by lightning or insects or some other strange phenomenon?
I sent a photograph and description of the argyle tree to the Forestry Department at Oregon State University, and they could offer no explanation. This diamond pattern is not typical of any species they are aware of.
What do you think? Send me your suggestions and maybe we can figure out this fluke of nature together. I might even reveal its exact location so you can visit and touch the unusual argyle tree yourself.
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