Graffiti Found At Arches National Park

Above, rock formations at Arches National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Back in July, I took a driving tour of Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. This was my first visit to this national park.

It was interesting to see the different red rock formations throughout the park.

It has been reported that bad behavior has struck the park. Too bad there are people who are compelled to do stupid things.

Deseret News reported:

Visitors to Arches National Park found the popular Devils Garden Trail vandalized with white spray-painted images of smiley faces, doodles and several iterations of what appears to be the word “GRUG” on the red rock.

Allyson Mathis, a retired National Park Service employee, found the defaced landscape while hiking with a friend last week. And that’s not all she encountered.

Speaking with a reporter from Outside, she described seeing a dog walking with other visitors — pets are not permitted on trails in Arches — and toilet paper strewn about the desert. That was in addition to the scale of the spray-paint defacement.

“It was everywhere,” Mathis said. “It was heartbreaking and upsetting, but unfortunately not surprising.”

To read more, go here.