Rock

June 27, 2023

Melissa and I decided to take a drive last week after taking the dogs for a walk.  The dog park is close to a small park and fishing lake where I often try my luck.  This is one of the community fishing lakes that Arkansas Game and Fish stock with catfish in the summer and trout during the winter.  It also has a 1.2 mile (1.9 km) walking trail that winds around the lake.  As we entered the park, I noticed a brightly painted sign at the side of the road but did not pay much attention.  We went to the lake so I could check my fishing spots.  There were several people fishing, but the spots I frequent were all open.  I keep my poles in the back of the car “just in case” but because of the heat decided not to stop.  As we drove out of the park the bright sign again caught my eye, and this time I stopped.  Laying on the group, ground next to the sign was a line of painted rocks with the lead rock painted like the head of a snake.  The sign said, “Rocky” the rock snake add a painted rock and watch me grow!”

When I went online, I found that making a rock snake is one of the children’s activities that took hold during the isolation brought on by the pandemic.  One rock snake located in Atascadero, California, was reported by the local newspaper claiming to be the longest rock snake in America, if not the world.  The snake began in August of 2020 and by March 2021 it had grown to 1,200 feet (365 3/4 m) long.  The Rock Snake was started by Wanda Kohl who had collected interesting rocks of different shapes and sizes and turned them into art projects with her children.  Kohl made the sign to (help) ensure the rocks would not be taken, painted the snakehead and a few other rocks, and placed them at the lake.  Kohl said she follows a popular rock snake community Facebook group, “SLO Painted Rocks” (1.3 members), and a few other fun rock pages where people hide rocks around the neighborhood, but she had never seen a project that continued to grow.  There are rocks for sports teams, superheroes, favorite movies, declarations of love, messages of faith, advertisements for businesses, and even ways to get help if you are struggling through the pandemic.  There are rocks painted by professionals, amateurs, babies, and the elderly.  It is something that belongs to the City of Atascadero and all its residents.

The Atascadero News printed a follow-up concerning the dismantling of the rock snake September 15, 2022.  The original article mentioned the 1,200 foot snake wrapped a quarter of the way around the lake, and the goal was to wrap the entire distance, or nearly a mile at around 4800 feet (1,463 m).   

While pride for the rock snake was said to bring the city together, the snake was vandalized early in 2022 in a way that made it difficult to repair.  While the community was sad to see it go, safety concerns and the condition of the rocks had the city and Kohl admitting it is time to move on.  Many of the rocks had worn by the weather and returned to their natural state.  Those who donated a rock were invited to pick them up and then Kohl and a team came in October to collect the remaining rocks.  The next stage of the rock snake’s next life is uncertain.

Thoughts:  Painting a rock is not new and Atascadero is not the first place in the world to have an extensive collection of painted rocks.  The current record for the largest display of painted rocks is in the UK in memory of a young girl, Isla Tansey, with 8,500 “painted pebbles” but they are not positioned into a long trail but in a display.  The Facebook group “painting rocks!” has 343.7K members who enjoy painting on a rock.  We still have a painted rock on display in our front yard that dates to the pandemic.  The yellow “N” (or “Z” ?) was part of an alphabet challenge offered by our neighborhood.  Destroying art has a long human tradition.  The sign for the rock snake ultimately did not protect it from vandals.  The missing heads and arms of a stature was a way for conquers to debase their fallen foes.  Vandalism is just a way to be mean and take away other’s enjoyment.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.