Photos and story by Chris Helzer
You’ve probably gazed at clouds and seen familiar objects or animals, right? (“Wow, that cloud looks like a squirrel riding a turtle!”) If you’re a fan of that game, I invite you to try “What’s that bark pattern look like?”
Based on years of experience, the game works best with mature ponderosa pine trees. If you can find some that have survived a recent fire, that’s even better, but not absolutely necessary. Once you’ve located your trees, all it takes is a little imagination and you’re set for hours.
It’s fun to play by yourself, of course, but it can also be entertaining and educational to engage with friends or family. You might learn a lot about people close to you and the surprisingly odd ways their brains work. Some psychologists use Rorschach inkblots to gain insight into people’s personality and emotional stability. Similarly, pine bark pattern interpretation seems like a completely valid way to assess those around you.
In a totally hypothetical example, let’s say you and your wife are looking at what is obviously a cow’s head in profile. The eye and nostril are clear as day, and you can even see a pretty well-defined horn curling upward. And yet, your wife insists she sees a momma penguin feeding a baby penguin. What does this mean? Well, in this very specific case, it means nothing. She’s perfectly within her rights to see a couple of penguins instead of a cow. Especially because she’ll probably read this (Hi Sweetie!).
Even if you don’t buy into the scientific value of ponderosa pine bark patterns, you can still enjoy them purely recreationally. If nothing else, they make a great distraction while hiking up steep hills in the Pine Ridge or along the Niobrara River, especially if your companions are in better aerobic shape than you.
“Hey!” you might say, “Come back down here and look at this. What do you think it looks like?” By the time your friends stop arguing about whether it’s a giraffe or a scorpion, you’ll have caught your breath and be ready to keep climbing.
Chris Helzer is The Nature Conservancy’s Director of Science and Stewardship. He is a regular contributor to Nebraskaland Magazine with his first story appearing in 1995.