Feds hunt graffiti artist in Yosemite, other parks

This undated photo taken from an Instagram posting shows an overlook of Crater Lake in Oregon. The National Park Service is investigating paintings of faces found on rocks across the West in some of the country’s most recognizable wilderness areas. (AP Photo/Instagram) less This undated photo taken from an Instagram posting shows an overlook of Crater Lake in Oregon. The National Park Service is investigating paintings of faces found on rocks across the West in some of the ... more Photo: Associated Press Photo: Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Feds hunt graffiti artist in Yosemite, other parks 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Federal investigators are trying to track down what appears to be a serial — and startlingly clueless — graffiti slinger who left her mark in national parks including Yosemite across five states and then posted photos of her indiscretions on Instagram.

Authorities have not identified the suspect or said whether they have been in contact with her, but the Instagram account is listed as belonging to Casey Nocket, a 21-year-old artist from New York apparently touring the West with acrylic paints.

Cartoon-like portraits have been brushed on rock faces at as many as 10 federal sites, according to the National Park Service, including Yosemite’s Vernal Falls as well the iconic Canyonlands in Utah and Oregon’s Crater Lake.

“While we can’t discuss details of a case under investigation, we take the issue of vandalism seriously,” said park service spokesman Jeffrey Olson. “Vandalism is not only a violation of the law, but it also damages and sometimes destroys often irreplaceable treasures that belong to all Americans. It is not only criminal, it is thoughtless.”

On Thursday, outrage at the spree was bubbling up across the Internet. While Nocket’s Instagram account, in which she referred to her work as “art,” had been taken down, bloggers and others had copied her photos and messages and distributed them online. Nature lovers and art critics, among others, were seething.

“It’s too bad she didn’t try to apply her 'art’ on the rocks right above Vernal Falls, right where it is really slippery,” wrote one commenter on SFGate.com.

“I’m not sure what’s worse, the quality of your art or your hubris, idiot,” wrote another person on Tumblr.

The backlash intensified when Nocket appeared, at least initially, to challenge her critics on Instagram, acknowledging that what she was doing was wrong and yet defending it as art. She admitted to using hard-to-remove acrylic paint, according to the online exchange.

Vandalizing a national park carries a fine of up to $5,000 and a maximum prison sentence of one year. A petition to the White House to press charges against Nocket — who couldn’t be reached for comment — was in circulation.

The graffiti, which includes faces and figures underscored by the Instagram signature creepytings, has been confirmed in five national parks: Yosemite, Death Valley, Crater Lake, and Zion and Canyonlands in Utah, officials said. Unconfirmed reports have come in from Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain in Colorado and Bryce in Utah.

In Yosemite, a white and red face painting with a blue serpent coming out of its mouth was etched on a granite rock near Vernal Falls, according to blogger Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd of San Jose, one of the first to come across the self-incriminating graffiti photos and copy them to her blog.

The photos were picked up by others and eventually forwarded to the National Park Service by a writer at the blog Modern Hiker.

“Scrolling through her other images,” Sowards-Emmerd writes, “it quickly became clear to me that this account was linked to a New Yorker on a long trip through the parks of the western U.S. Within a few minutes I saw she had also visited Bryce, Zion, Joshua Tree, and other public lands. She seemed proud of the 'art,’ and appeared to take a lot of pride and happiness in the 'work.’”

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander