Where to find Hampton Lumber’s tree smiley face

It causes quite the double take when you’re driving in the fall and winter

A giant smiley face design is revealed in a forest thanks to varying deciduous and evergreen trees

You have anywhere from 30 to 50 years to see the face.

As you drive along Oregon Route 18, you may see something … in-tree-guing. At mile-marker 25, between the towns of Grand Ronde + Willamina, a view opens up onto an enormous smiley face design on Hampton Lumber timberland.

Back in 2011, the company’s foresters were starting the reforestation process + decided to mix larch trees, whose needles turn yellow and fall off in the fall, into a swath of evergreen Douglas firs. They used a rope to plot the 300-feet diameter circle, which will be visible for the next 30-50 years until the logs are harvested and processed at nearby lumber mills. Talk about branching out to make us happy.

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