I have two apricot trees that I planted two years ago. They grew fine the
first two years. This year, they budded out and started to grow and were
doing fine until a few weeks or so ago. Now one appears to be almost dead,
and the second is starting to show symptoms.

Last year I noticed the bark peeling on one of the trees. This year the bark
peeling is worse, and may or may not be related. The bark peeling is on all
sides of tree and at various elevations. It most definitaly is not
mechanical damage, and the location of it makes me think it's not caused by
sun exposure. Besides, this is Oregon, the sun doesn't shine much here .

In the course of about 10 days, the foliage has started to die to the point
where 90% of the leaves are dead. The other tree shows bark peeling in one
small spot only, and the foliage is starting to wilt and show signs of
stress. I've googled around, but didn't see anything that looks like this.
Does this look/sound familiar to anyone?

Here are a few pics:

Good pic of the second tree, shows drooping foliage.
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2008/...s/DSCF2717.JPG

Bark damage on second tree, note drooping foliage:
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2008/...s/DSCF2716.JPG

Bark damage on first tree. Note how it looks like there are two branches
growing side by side under the bark. This pattern is seen in several places:
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2008/...s/DSCF2719.JPG
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2008/...s/DSCF2721.JPG
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2008/...s/DSCF2711.JPG
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2008/...s/DSCF2720.JPG

And dying leaves:
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2008/...s/DSCF2714.JPG