By Tim Binnall
Carlsbad Caverns National Park has sparked something of a strange debate following a social media post wherein they told visitors to stop leaving painted rocks around the site. The difference of opinion reportedly began on Monday when the park shared photos of the decorated stones, which feature flowers and the words 'Be Happy,' on Facebook and indicated that rangers had stumbled upon them "while hiking Slaughter Canyon." However, rather than give kudos to the creative individual behind the lovely find, the post put forward a different take on the matter, declaring that "although leaving painted rocks behind for strangers to discover may seem like a fun activity, it is not appropriate in national parks."
The problem, it would seem, is that either the rocks had already been in the park before being painted, which would constitute vandalism, or they were brought to the site and left there, which would technically be littering. To that end, the park's post concluded with a call to visitors to "please minimize your impacts on your public lands by not leaving trash or other items behind." As one might imagine, the peculiar message got quite the reaction online with some people agreeing with the 'leave no trace' sentiment, while others expressed appreciation for the colorful stones and saw the park as proverbial party poopers for likening the cool-looking rocks to garbage. What's your take on the stones? Are they trash or treasure? Weigh in at the C2C Facebook page.