Big Falls marred by vandals

The base of the once-pristine rock walls that tower to the sky just inside the Mount Charleston Wilderness Area up a rugged ravine above Kyle Canyon have been marred with 12-foot-long swaths of blue, white, orange and black spray paint. It’s similar to the graffiti that vandals leave along Las Vegas freeways.

“Who would take a spray can up a mountain to destroy it?” asked Trista Hill, a 22-year-old hiker who climbed over slippery boulders and fallen trees and trudged through loose rocks to reach the spot Tuesday.

“It’s sad. When I was a kid, I don’t remember it being like this,” Hill said. “People used to carve their names in trees, which is a bummer, too. It’s a shame.”

A few minutes before she and two friends sat in the coolness of the moss-covered, cathedral-like rock face, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer had snapped photographs of the mess at Big Falls.

He talked about the sickness of graffiti vandals who have defaced remote areas of the Spring Mountains and cultural sites in Red Rock Canyon

“It makes no sense,” said the officer, Kevin Hart.

“They go out of their way, and people from around the world come here to see this place. I guess they think there’s more beauty in this. But look how this takes away from it,” he said after an hour-long hike off the beaten path that splits off from the improved trail to Mary Jane Falls.

Above puffy, oversized white letters, outlined blue and others in orange, were black letters that spelled, “PYRO,” below the image of a devil’s face and the “Y” shaped like pitchfork.

A supposed date appeared on the east wall, “200666.”

Across from it on the west face, is a shoulder-high inscription in black: “I am traisng (sic) graffiti to far away places.”

Hart shook his head. “People just have no respect for the land.”

One of only four U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officers who are assigned to patrol 300,000 acres around Mount Charleston, Hart said it’s difficult to catch somebody vandalizing the area’s public resources.

But if someone is caught, the penalties could range from a ticket to a court appearance. Depending on the severity of the crime, those convicted could be required to pay fines and restitution for cleaning up graffiti and rehabilitation.

He intends to consult Las Vegas police to see whether the taggings can be identified and determine whether they are connected to a certain group or gang.

This graffiti, he said, looks like the work of an expert. “This is definitely no high school type who came out here to see if they can go out and destroy something.”

Hart said he will discuss the problem with the U.S. Forest Service resource staff to see whether the paint can be sandblasted or cleaned up and whether there are any wilderness issues that need to be considered before an effort is launched.

He said he thinks repairs are possible but, he said, “I think it will take a lot of work.”

Hart said anyone with information about spray paint vandalism in the Spring Mountains should call the Forest Service’s Las Vegas field office at 514-5400.