With no maintenance crews available during the government shutdown, some national parks are closing campgrounds due to overflowing garbage while others are closing roads due to snowy conditions.
In Texas, officials at Big Bend National Park on Wednesday closed the Chisos Basin, Rio Grande Village, and Cottonwood campgrounds due to sanitation and resource impact concerns. The Rio Grande Village RV hookups campground, which is managed by Forever Resorts, remained open, however, the park said in a notice on its website.
Additionally, the Santa Elena Canyon Trailhead and trail was closed due to resource impact concerns, though the park didn't specify what concerns were.
In North Dakota, staff at Theodore Roosevelt National Park closed the North Unit's scenic drive Wednesday because of snowfall. In the South Unit the East River Road remained open, though the Scenic Loop Drive was closed to vehicles.
At Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state, the shutdown prompted park officials to stop traffic at Longmire, with no public access allowed to Paradise. Death Valley National Park staff put out a release urging visitors to take their trash out of the park with them. In New Mexico, the public was accessing White Sands National Monument, which was supposed to be closed to the public during the shutdown, by walking up a dune that covered a fence, according to local media.
Random checks Wednesday morning of webcams around the National Park System revealed:
* A couple enjoying a private show of Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park;
* One snowboarder at the Badger Pass Ski Area in Yosemite National Park;
* No line at the entrance station to Arches National Park;
* A beach empty of visitors at Kalaloch in Olympic National Park;
* No one at Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park;
* Some traffic at Newfound Gap in Great Smoky National Park;
* No traffic at the Beaver Meadows entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park;
* No one at the Apgar Visitor Center Plaza in Glacier National Park;
* A handful of visitors on the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park.
In Grand Teton National Park, the Teton Park Road was groomed for skiers from the Taggart Trailhead to South Jenny Lake thanks to the Grand Teton National Park Foundation.
Comments
This post was in my Facebook feed, I'm not a memeber as far as i know, but I've got a family of seven able and willing participants for the Lower Pa, MD, or DC area. Please, let me know where are services are needed.
I am leaving Wisconsin Saturday with my 4x4 and trailer to help clean up the National parks with an emphasis on Grand Teton. I've visited the "Great Divide" several times in the past few years and it bothers me that trash is piling up because of this government shutdown. I intend to do something about it.