“ Squatters, illegal BASE jumpers invade Yosemite amid federal shutdown”
A park employee, who spoke with SFGATE on the condition of anonymity to protect their job (which was granted in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy), said they know of only one wilderness ranger working the entire park. And technically, that person is not even a ranger, the employee said, but a volunteer. “There are lots of squatters in the campgrounds,” the employee told SFGATE. “There are lots of people that truly believe they can do whatever they want because of the lack of rangers. They’ve told us.”
Now in Moab, where the main visitor centers at Arches and Canyonlands are operating normally, though the entrance stations aren’t staffed and so the Arches timed admission limits aren’t being implemented.
The parks in Utah are operating with 15 days of state funding which runs out next Saturday (it took 3 days after Oct 1 before that money was put in place). No one at the visitor center/store is quite sure what’s going to happen after that if the shutdown continues.
Update from Zion: Kolob Canyon visitors center was closed on Friday, but the drive was open. We didn’t go to the main (Springdale) side, but found a beautiful slot canyon just outside the National Park.
We visited Mesa Verde on Sunday. There was a ranger manning the park entrance, taking fees and checking passes.We saw two other rangers during our visit. A number of areas were blocked off, so while open, they’re restricting access which makes perfect sense given the need to protect the cliff dwellings etc. The gift shop area was closed but the bathrooms were open and in good condition. It’s one of my favorite National Parks, so many opportunities to listen to the silence.
We were just in Shenandoah for a week. The entrances were manned by rangers but they were not taking fees. The visitor centers were open, as were the gift shops and the donation boxes were full. All the campgrounds were open. The two we stayed at were clean and people were following the rules. We did about 45 miles of hiking and the trails were pristine. We hiked Old Rag, which you needed a ticket for regardless of the shutdown - a ranger was in the booth at the trailhead checking.
