Park rangers searching for vandals who painted rock formations blue

Rangers at Zion National Park are trying to solve the mystery of the vanishing vandalism after six blue painted squares found on rock formations were removed.

The 3-foot painted squares were found July 8 on the Kolob Terrace near the Wildcat Trailhead, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. A few days later it was gone.

“They put on quite a few coats of the paint. It was really thick and it was there for several days. They got paint on bushes, I guess, and there was paint all over the ground, too,” park spokesman Jeff Axel told KSL. “Somebody had peeled it off and it was gone but they did leave pieces of the blue paint around, so it’s not entirely cleaned up.”

The paint left rangers puzzled. 

Thinking it was part of a masonry or art project, rangers met with people in those industries but have not identified a culprit. Officials said while most of it was removed, the painted areas still need to be cleaned. 

“Repair of vandalized sites is costly and time-consuming. The staff often cannot restore sites and resources to their former condition,” officials said in a news release. 

Cox Media Group