There's at least one tree in Riverside Park in Kamloops with these characters carved in.
(JENNA WHEELER / iNFOnews.ca)
June 22, 2020 - 6:00 AM
A Kamloops mom was enjoying a few minutes of free time in Riverside Park when something hidden in a tree caught her eye.
“I wanted to see where the level of the river was… my kids were running and playing so I stepped right back over here and I noticed, there’s a face staring at me in the tree,” Mellissa Hubbard says.
Hubbard saw a small carving resembling an old man in the large tree close to the river. What really surprised her was the carvings are nearly identical to the ones her dad has been doing since she was a child.
“It caught my eye also right away because my father is a carver and he does wood carvings like this,” Hubbard says. “I just thought of my dad instantly… He does the little faces just like this. He’ll put them on a random piece of wood or he’ll put them on a bottle topper for wine or just make a cute little tree ornament for detail, but all of them have detail and character just like these guys.”
Hubbard says the carvings instantly reminded her of her father since he carves nearly the same figure.
(JENNA WHEELER / iNFOnews.ca)
Hubbard called over her six-year-old twins to admire the tree.
“I looked and I thought, ‘I wonder how old this tree is. I started looking up and around it and I saw another face. And when I explored a little more I could look beyond and see even more faces. This tree is so intricate, it has got so many details and it’s so full of life. It’s got so many stories, if only it could speak. And maybe these guys would come to life.”
Hubbard thinks these carvings may have been done some time ago due to their height and weathered look.
(JENNA WHEELER / iNFOnews.ca)
There are five faces carved into parts of the tree, each with slightly different expressions. Two are placed right next to each other and about ten feet up in the tree. Hubbard says she felt a connection while admiring the carvings, and not only due to the resemblance to her father's workmanship.
“The one that caught my eye up here is the two together because I have twins… it reminded me that it could be my mom watching because she knows I have twins and she has passed away.”
Hubbard says she grew up in North Vancouver and was surrounded by towering trees.
“It’s just like a spiritual connection when you see stuff like this because it makes me think, someone else is watching you, someone else acknowledges that you’re going to walk toward this tree right now.
It seems there are spots in the tree that are yet to be carved, as some stencils have been made. Hubbard has no idea how long the carver has been doing this, as some of the carvings are quite high up and weathered.
“I wonder who they are, I wonder why they came and carved here. If it’s the same carver that’s done all of the faces. I wonder if they find this a way of connecting with themselves, like meditation. Or maybe they think, ‘I want to provide Kamloops with some really cool little surprise and this tree is where I’m going to start.’”
You can find this tree near the Japanese gardens just west of the tennis and pickleball courts. Have you found this tree in Riverside Park, or any others with carvings on them? Let us know in the comments.
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