Some things can be told — not shown. And for one hiker in Providence Canyon State Park in Georgia, couples who had carved their names into rocks left a decidedly bad impression.
"Wtf is wrong with people," they wrote on Reddit. "Everywhere you look someone has carved some b******* into the actively eroding canyon walls. I'm glad you love whoever you love but you do not need to deface a park to tell everyone, that's what social media is for."
They posted several photos of the bluff walls, where the soft sandstone has clearly been mutilated, covered in overlapping letters and crude drawings.
Other commenters had encountered similarly frustrating displays. "Just got back from Hawaii and … at most of [the places I visited,] all the palm trees within arms reach were carved up with this graffiti," one person lamented. "I'll never understand why people think their love affairs are so special and unique they need to carve up nature so everyone else can see."
"I don't understand [people] who think it's fine," another agreed. "It may be fun for yourself but disrupts the beauty for millions of other people."
It's an undeniable fact — humans love to leave their mark in natural places. From carving names into trees to painting on their trunks, tagging rocks with spray paint and even defacing sacred indigenous sites, it seems that many people simply cannot resist the urge to self-express.
"I was so excited when I got there and saw the view from the top trail," said another commenter, who had visited the same park in Georgia. "It was heartbreaking to see all that when I got into the canyons. Really hate people sometimes."
To their point, not only do these selfish actions impede the ability of other visitors to relax and enjoy the natural sights, but they also harm the plants and animals that live there year-round.
The chemicals in paint can poison or even kill certain types of trees, according to Purdue University. And carving into them is just as bad. Damaging the structure of the bark — particularly if the cut is deep — can introduce disease and cause lasting damage which, in some cases, can lead to the tree's death, per Leave No Trace.
Instead, visitors can express their love for each other — and the natural world — simply by savoring it and, as LNT says, "taking only photos and leaving only footprints."
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