Painted rocks, ghost rocks, graffiti rocks – whatever name you heard them referred to the past is being pressure washed away.
Michelle Zumstein: “We’ve already got started, the boys are over there with the pressure washer going…”
It was an overcast and windy fall morning when I went out and met with Michelle Zummstein and a couple dozen volunteers on Highway 247, just north of the Landers and Johnson Valley border. The rocks located right there on ghost road are covered in graffiti, and they have been for years. As you drive into the Morongo Basin, you’ll see them on your left and it’s a great place to pull over and get out, stretch, and explore some of the natural features you’ll find as you drive into the hi-desert and closer to the national park.
And for many other visitors, it’s been an easy spot to tag. The rocky formations are the typical round boulders you find in the Mojave desert. Lava pushed up from below the earth millions of years ago and smoothed out with time and weather, creating course boulder formations called monzogranite.
For whatever reason, decades ago, people started tagging these rocks and others along the Highway 247 also known as Old Woman Springs Road. Some tags look hastily sprayed on bare rock while other larger tags are painted over older ones, resulting in layers of paint that takes a lot of work to get off.
“Some are multiple layers, like the big alien here. That is multi-layered. Some of them come up easy, other one’s not-so-much.”
Michelle teamed up with Kaz from Blight Sites, who organizes the Giant Rock cleanups that happen multiple times a year. It’s a similar job on similar land.
Karyl “Kaz” Newman: “A lot of these areas are sacred areas like Giant Rock. They need to be better protected. We have a large amount of open land to try and maintain. It’s really a constant challenge. There isn’t enough manpower out of BLM Barstow.. We don’t have enough rangers… it’s hard! It’s really made a difference at Giant Rock. We can tell. We’re hoping that’s going to be the same situation here.”
Volunteers showed up with pressure washers, brushes, gloves and garbage bags. A viscous gray goo affectionately and officially called “Elephant Snot” helps break down the paint which is then scrubbed off with elbow grease and heated pressure washers – provided by Glen from PSI Products.
Glen: “I just want to see Kaz kill the alien! That’s the only reason I came out!”
Kaz: “Let’s do it!”
Like Giant Rock, the area around the painted rocks is BLM land. Park Ranger Art is with the BLM and has been out in this area for a while now..
Art: “I’ve been here doing this for 27 years, this is my whole area.”
With over 4,000 acres that he patrols out of Barstow, he says vandalism is a common problem out here.
Art, Michelle and all the other volunteers hope that cleaning up the most visible tags from the highway along with new signage being installed by the BLM will help curb the constant onslaught of tags, which are extending deeper off the highway, as well as spreading further south toward Landers and Flamingo Heights.
While volunteers worked on the paint, Thomas and his buddies were just behind them pulling all sorts of household and construction garbage out of the rocks and into a trailer.
Thomas “Been coming out here my whole life and tired of it looking like a wasteland behind the rocks. We all got dump cards, we’re going to go dump it and get our stamps on our cards and make sure it ends up in the right place. Wish more people did the same thing…”
The volunteers started at 8:00 a.m. that Saturday, and by noon that day nearly all the garbage was picked up and a lot of the most visible tags had been cleaned off.
Tris and his son Aiden saw the explosion of the tags during COVID, and came out to volunteer during the clean-up. He along with the other volunteers know that everything won’t get done today..
Tris: “…if everyone just continues to help out and maybe get some more volunteers out here, this place could look amazing. We’re going to see a change from just the minimal hours we’re spending out here today.”
Walking around the rocks, you can see the difference and the hope is that people will see the work being done on the area and respect the restoration efforts.
Art from the BLM Barstow office installed signage all around the area letting people know that the area is currently under restoration, and he hopes an info kiosk will help dissuade anyone coming out who thought the rocks were there to tag.
The ongoing efforts to clean-up the rocks can be seen on social media, where Michelle is working hard to make sure the restoration project is just as present on Instagram and Facebook as the tags were.
If you want to help out, join the Facebook group to find out about future clean-ups.
Stopping by the rocks with a trash bag is a good way to keep things clean, hopefully encouraging others to see that the rock formations and the land that surrounds is beautiful on its own, no paint needed.
Follow Johnson Valley Painted Rocks on Instagram – lots of pics of the clean-up and before/afters.
Follow Blight Sites on Instagram – desert clean-ups and meetups for those who want to stay active.
The following volunteers were identified by Michelle for their donations to the clean-up:
Jessie Deyden
Brett Trimper
Brian Rupert
Rossi Durkee
Abe Gonzales
C&J JV Locals
Mitch Beram
Brian Gurdine
Sherrie Pilkington
Julian Garduno
Michael Johnson
James Comeau
Deserie & Earl Thigpen
Robert Dalton
Ryan Cummings
Doreen Palomino
Jason & Theresa Contreras
Cody Waggoner
Tris Mahaffay
Aidan Mahaffay
Andrew Vivilacqua
Scott Hagen
Darrin & Michelle Zumstein
Judith Lafoon
Lisa McInerney
Big Horn Water – Marina West
C&J Feed – Heidi
California Boring / The Forty – Kevin
PSI – Glen Williams
High Desert Keepers
