Kanuka Brook Vandalism

[WaterStrider]

I was walking in Kanuka Brook the other day and was very disappointed to discover it has been covered in blue paint. From its intersection with Glenbrook Creek until the pass that goes up towards Red Hands Cave, there are blue dots at a maximum spacing of ten metres. Sometimes adjacent rocks at a spacing of 1-2 metres are painted. At one point the track splits into two possible routes for around thirty metres and both routes have been “helpfully” marked. I don’t understand why someone would do this – how hard is it to follow a track that stays on the same side of the creek and is always within about ten metres of it? It has not been done terribly recently (the paintwork on some dead logs is starting to decay), but it wasn’t there the last time I walked that way in February.

I noticed a previous post re. similar vandalism on Lindeman Pass: http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=23086 Have any solutions been discovered for cleaning up these sorts of problems?

[Huntsman247]

That's terrible. Although I'm sure someone will pipe up and defend whoever did it claiming it is somehow beneficial. Vandalism is a good term to describe it.

[WaterStrider]

Laser removal looks like the perfect solution for these issues. It vaporises the paint without damaging the underlying rock. No need for any nasty chemicals. There are portable systems that can run off a generator.

Here is an example used on similar rock. The video embedded in this article is very impressive:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loc ... story.html

The unknown factor is cost, but if a system was shared between a number of national parks I don't imagine it would be prohibitive.

[clarence]

You could put cairns over all of the offending spots where possible.

Obviously these people lack basic bushcraft- which is nothing new.

Maybe these people should get the App for their phone which tells them how to get to the destination, without a map or a brain, if they need to spray paint the path.

It is a bit of a mess and pretty dumb- but will erode/wash off in a few years- especially with people walking over it.

Clarence