It's noble to want to make your mark on the planet — just not like this.
A frustrated TikToker named Cal (@calcing) shared a video from a recent hike at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. While enjoying the 40,000 acres of bright-red Aztec sandstone, Cal noticed a disturbing and destructive trend: tourists carving their names into the famed formations.
@calcing What exactly was it that made a human feel stronger than nature? Please stop vandalizing our parks. No rock stacks, no etchings. Come as you are and leave it as it was. Sorry for the rant. Love you.
♬ i walk this earth all by myself - Ekkstacy
"What exactly was it that made a human feel stronger than nature? Please stop vandalizing our parks," Cal wrote in the video's caption.
The Valley of Fire State Park website states that "removing, disturbing or damaging any historic structure, artifact, rock, plant life, fossil or other feature is prohibited." It adds that state and federal laws protect the area and its resources, meaning violators could be charged for leaving their mark.
Unfortunately, this vandalism isn't an isolated problem. Carving initials, names, and even profanities into stones and trees is a common habit for tourists around the country, according to the National Park Service, which condemns the practice.
"I'm in Colorado & we have Aspen forests that look beautiful in the autumn," one TikTok commenter wrote. "People come from all over to watch the leaves change…& then carve their initials into the bark."
Carving into stone and bark can mar the beauty of natural landscapes, changing them for future generations.
Carving into stone creates small cracks and fissures, making the stone more vulnerable to erosion by wind and water, the NPS says. That's especially true of sandstone, which is susceptible to erosion.
In the case of tree carvings, damaging tree bark can disrupt a tree's vascular system, making it susceptible to disease and death. As the Boyce Thompson Arboretum explains, a tree's vascular system is responsible for transporting water, sugar, and other nutrients to different parts of the tree.
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"It's incredibly frustrating," Cal wrote in response to a commenter who complained about tourists carving into live bamboo plants.
Access to nature and hiking trails is a privilege — especially considering how much of our natural environment has already been destroyed by development and pollution. When interacting with nature, we should strive to leave the environment as good as we found it, if not better.
As Cal says in the video caption, "Come as you are and leave it as it was."
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