Kate Kupferer was hiking Boulder's popular Saddle Rock Trail with two companions on Sunday morning when they happened upon a very unwelcome new feature.

They were disturbed to find graffiti, scrawled in what appeared to be white spray paint, on a large rock in clear view read: "Explore your mind like U do this forrest."

The actions of that note's author, who might very well want to explore a dictionary for spelling help, are incomprehensible to Kupferer, a longtime Boulder resident who was hiking with friend Connie Jagolinzer and Jagolinzer's daughter, Taylor, also of Boulder.

"It was just so disheartening," Kupferer said. "To think that somebody loaded up their pack for a hike and threw in a can of spray paint. Who does that?"

Terming the graffiti "beyond appalling," Kupferer said, "I've lived here more than 25 years, and I had never seen that kind of defacement before on a hike ... I think even young children would know better than to put that on a rock on a trail."

Noting the vandal's misspelling of "forest," she observed, "They apparently missed more than just Wilderness 101."

The defaced rock is about a 20-minute hike up from the base of the Chautauqua-area trail, Kupferer said, before hikers reach a ladder that was added to the trail in the wake of the 2013 flood.

Connie Jagolinzer had not hiked the trail before. Kupferer often serves as her guide to new area trails.

"I thought it was pretty disappointing," Jagolinzer said. "It's a hard trial, straight up, and that wasn't really the reward we were looking for.

"I have no idea what motivates anybody anymore. It's sad. I feel like people don't respect anybody's space. They don't respect nature, they don't respect anything. They feel like their own opinions or thoughts and feelings should be thrust on everybody."

The Saddle Rock graffiti has numerous recent precedents in wildlands around the west.

Graffiti was discovered in April 2016 at Frame Arch in Utah's Arches National Park, carved into the stone — and then shared on social media. Park officials said at the time that it was carved so deeply it might be impossible to erase.

That had followed a series of graffiti incidents on picturesque landscape features of at least eight national parks across the west.

And, in 2016, actress Vanessa Hudgens and her boyfriend were investigated after allegedly carving their names, surrounded by a heart, into rock at the Red Rock Ranger District of Arizona's Coconino National Forest, then posting images of their handiwork on Instagram.

Hudgens subsequently paid a $1,000 fine for the misdemeanor count of damaging a natural feature on U.S. Forest Service land.

Philip Yates, spokesman for Boulder's Open Space and Mountain Parks department, said the city was aware of this incident and it is being investigated.

"The city has a long history of preserving and protecting our landscapes," Yates said. "This is really unfortunate for us to see. It creates a problem for us, to clean and remove it. It diminishes our visitors' experience on the land, having to see that."

The Saddle Rock graffiti has not yet been removed — but it is expected to be sometime this week, Yates said.

"We do have procedures in place to remove graffiti," Yates said. "However, having to do that takes away from our other efforts to maintain and improve open space.

"We try to have as minimal an impact as possible in removing graffiti. We use environmentally safe chemicals to remove it from rocks and signs, but unfortunately, sometimes we have to use sandblasters to remove it."

Those caught collecting, removing, destroying or defacing any natural or man-made object on Boulder open space — including picking wildflowers — can face a fine of $1,000, 90 days in jail or both, Yates said.

Those who see something actively being defaced on open space property are asked to call 303-441-3333. Damage discovered after the fact should be reported to 303-441-3440.

The Saddle Rock incident left Kupferer and the Jagolinzers completely mystified.

"What is it with everybody having to leave their mark?" Jagolinzer said. "I don't get it."

Charlie Brennan: 303-473-1327, brennanc@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/chasbrennan

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