Officials with the National Park Service are searching for suspects after rocks on the Delicate Arch trail inside Arches National Park were heavily damaged by graffiti:
Park Superintendent Kate Cannon says the carvings discovered last week span 5 or 6 feet on Frame Arch and include names and messages.
Cannon said Thursday that the vandalism is so deeply etched that it might have taken at least an hour for someone to carve. She's unsure if park officials will be able to repair the arch.
The arch is off a popular hiking trail in the park where visitors can look through it and view the park's iconic, stand-alone Delicate Arch.
Below is the plea from Arches National Park officials for more information:
We need your help. Staff recently discovered new graffiti at Frame Arch, just off the trail to Delicate Arch. If you saw anyone carving or writing on the rock on the Delicate Arch trail, please contact the park via email or phone listed here: www.nps.gov/...
Graffiti—marking, scratching, chalking, and carving on rocks—is unsightly and illegal. It damages the rocks and ruins other people's experience in this natural place. Rangers and volunteer groups spend hundreds of hours every year removing graffiti from the park. Help us protect your national park: if you discover graffiti in the park, please let us know. (cw)