Who’s behind the giant digits in larch trees on a Shuswap mountain?

A Sorrento resident out exploring the outdoors this week saw something surprising and unusual in the forest.

Danni Thorpe followed some backroads behind the tiny town of Celista on Shuswap Lake on Nov. 2, and stopped to take in the view.

“I looked across the valley and thought ‘what is that?’” she said. “I grabbed my camera and zoomed in closer and was like ‘no way.’”

The number 2,000 was spelled out in golden larch trees and glowed brightly amidst a dark forest on the hills above Blind Bay.

There are three species of larch in the province and they are the only conifers that change colour and drop foliage every fall. Western larch is the species found naturally at lower- to mid-elevations in the southern part of BC, and some of it has been planted on forestry cut blocks.

Dawn Bently lives in Celista and can see the numbers emerge on the hills across Shuswap Lake every fall. She isn’t certain who is behind the creative design.

“I’ve seen it every year for at least ten years, it’s not as visible as it has been in the past, but I think it’s an awesome idea,” she told iNFOnews.ca.

Thorpe returned to view the strange wonder a couple day later, but so many needles had dropped only two of the numbers were still visible.

Originally from New Zealand, Thorpe has spent a lot of time in the forest and wildfire industries back home and in BC.

“This is a really cool thing to see, I’ve never seen anything like it before,” she said.