Yet another instance of vandalism on Utah’s public lands has gone viral.
Twitter user @Utah_Sailor shared a photo of a sandstone boulder with “Finn fam 2023” scratched across its surface on May 8. The tweeter told The Salt Lake Tribune she did not take the photo and was not sure where it came from, but the etching appeared to have happened somewhere in southern Utah’s redrock country.
The post has amassed nearly 16,000 likes and about 1,500 retweets in the week since. Another photo uploaded to Reddit’s r/facepalm, also a week ago, shows what appears to be a middle-aged couple and teenager or young woman posing atop the vandalized rock. That post had nearly 10,000 upvotes and around 2,400 comments before moderators removed it.
Commenters on both social media posts mocked the loopy, stylized cursive of the graffiti. Others decried the family for trashing Utah’s landscape.
“For those wondering... this is likely at a National/Public park,” a Reddit user wrote in a top comment. “Defacing anything in one is just a really s----- and disrespectful thing to do. Not to mention illegal.”
A few others defended the family’s action and wondered if the writing was in nonpermanent chalk.
“All it takes is one person to do something like this then others will start doing it too,” a Twitter user countered. “Even if it is chalk, the next person might use something permanent. They need to be found and made an example of, so others don’t also do it.”
The Tribune has since confirmed the defaced boulder is located near Catacomb Rock, a popular four-wheel driving destination near Moab, on land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
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