BEND, Ore. -- Richard Nixon did not live here.

But those who enjoy cross-country skiing on the trails west of Bend could be forgiven for making such a mistake. Amid the snow-topped pines are signs that read "Bob Woodward sucks."

The messages are part of anti-Bob Woodward graffiti campaign that apparently has nothing to do with Watergate or the Washington Post and everything to do with an outdoor writer in Central Oregon who was once the mayor of Bend.

Signs, warming shelters and even toilets are scrawled with anti-Woodward messages. A new $28,000 Nordeen warming hut has already been tagged three times, said Linda Frost, president of the Central Oregon Nordic Club, which paid for the shelter.

No one is sure who dislikes Woodward, but the vandal, or vandals, are persistent, skiing far into the woods to get their point across. They even take the time to mark up stacks of maps posted at trail heads.

"It's a puzzler for everyone," said Tom Gibbons, a board member of Tumalo Langlauf Club, another local Nordic skiing group.

Woodward, 68, told The Oregonian newspaper he has his suspicions about who the vandal might be, but isn't certain. The writer traces the vendetta to a column where he voiced some support for a proposed expansion of the Virginia Meissner ski area.

"It's one individual who just frankly doesn't like me," said Woodward, who has been working in Bend for 30 years.

Last year, an anonymous letter was sent to The Source, the weekly Bend paper that Woodward used to contribute a column to, from a person claiming to belong to a group called KWIT: Keep Woodward in Town. The letter warned that the graffiti would continue if Woodward kept getting published.

After that, anti-Woodward messages were painted in the snow at Meissner.

"Another interpretation is that Bend has grown dramatically, and for people who don't like the change, this is their way to voice opposition," said Cassie Giddings of Bend, president of the Oregon Nordic Club. "And they've decided they want to use Bob Woodward as an example of that."