Hello all, New to the forum. I recently scored some wood from the Medicine Bow Nat. Forest in WY and have looked through various tree ID sites, but can't find similar images of this bark. It has a distinct "V" shaped scale to the bark. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Zack
Welcome to the forum! Looks like Ponderosa to me, what you think Mag Craft? I used to live a bit north of Douglas in Wright, I worked on conveyor belts in the coal mines. Loved the country and wildlife out there. Not much for choices in wood though, is there??
It could be Ponderosa. It does not look like Lodge pole that is for sure. Yep you are correct not much choice for wood. You take what you can find and get.
In this area, it's mostly Ponderosa, little bit of Lodgepole, Aspen, and Cottonwood. I've got some Subalpine Fir off private property that was very nice. I used to live near Fort Collins and find some hardwoods on occasion (ash or maple). In the online Tree IDs for pines in Wyoming, I couldn't find the V shaped bark. It could just be trait to the Ponderosa in this area.
I used to go thru Wright on a regular basis hauling oil field supplies to Casper, The Red Desert area & Rifle,CO from the Bakken patch.
Looks like pondo to me and I live in the middle of one of the biggest Ponderosa pine forests. If it’s not it’s sure a real close pine relative.
Welcome, friend! That's 100% Ponderosa Pine. I'll bet a paycheck on it. I process and burn tons of it. Good stuff. Split it and burn it!
I agree with all that that's Poderosa Pine. I lived for several years in Klamath Falls, OR, and that's what we had in that area.
Here are a few pics of some smaller Ponderosa Pine's that I have on my property. They are only about 30 feet tall. The immature Pondo's have that really alligator looking dark bark. As the trees get older, the bark smooths out and turns more of a red color. The bark is always darker toward the top of the tree, and lighter in color toward the bottom.
We were in the Black Hills a few weeks ago and I got these pics of some ponderosa pine at Mt Rushmore. Pics all the same tree, close up of the bark and a pic of towards the top.
If it is fresh, stick your nose right in the grooves of the bark and smell. Ponderosa has a vanilla smell. Someone is going to assume I am joking, but not at all, try it.
Welcome aboard! Randomness no one asked for: Ponderosa Steakhouse….anyone remember those places back in the day?
I don’t recall that one Brad. But a super local one to us “The Rustic Oak”. Which is now a tire shop and the oaks are gone. Sad irony!
