Death Valley rangers were able to somewhat easily "erase" this graffiti on the mud floor of Ubehebe Crater in the northern end of the national park/NPS
At least this graffiti was relatively easy to erase.
Unlike paint, which some vandals have used in national parks, the offending visitors at Death Valley National Park went to the bottom of Ubehebe Crater and carved symbols and letters into the mud floor of the crater. The marks would likely have been erased by the next significant rainfall, according to park staff, but that can be a long wait in Death Valley. Meanwhile, park visitors complained about the graffiti.
So, on November 7 some rangers went into the crater to, basically, erase the symbols.
Ubehebe Crater is a maar—or steam explosion—volcano in the northern part of the park. Geologists believe it may have erupted most recently only a few hundred years ago, making it an active volcano.
The site is sacred to the Timbisha Shoshone tribe, who call it Tem-pin-tta Wo’sah, meaning Coyote’s Basket. Ubehebe’s dramatic beauty makes it a popular destination for park visitors.
It’s also an active research site. NASA’s Dr. Rosalba Bonaccorsi studies sediment in the bottom of Ubehebe Crater to understand information collected by the Mars rover.
To erase the graffiti, park employees ran a water hose from a tanker in the parking lot down about 600 feet to the bottom of the crater. Park staff then sprayed water over the dried mud floor. When the pools of water dried up, the graffiti had disappeared and the natural color and patterns of the crater had returned. This method was used instead of raking, which would have been less labor intensive, but would have encouraged invasion by nonnative weeds.
Including drive time, the project took seven park employees nine hours to complete. Anyone with information about the vandals is encouraged to contact the park.
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