Here’s a good backgrounder on the National Park shutdown that will begin October 2, when I, like tens of thousands of others, have reservations in a National Park campground. In the last bullshit shutdown, Trump kept parks “open” and exposed parks them to overflowing trash, off-road vehicles running all over the place, vandalism and damage that is still being repaired. Biden is going to do the responsible thing and close the parks.
A couple of points on this:
First, depending on the park, many visitors are “tourons” who have no idea that National Parks aren’t Disneyland. These people have no idea that it’s really stupid idea to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with your kids, all wearing Crocs. Or that bison aren’t fluffy cows that you can pet. (There are Instagram accounts dedicated to the exploits of tourons here and here.) Without ranger supervision these idiots will cause damage or be killed.
Second, National Park visits are way up since the start of the pandemic. Parks like Acadia, Rocky Mountain, Glacier and Arches (among others) have implemented timed entry permits for popular attractions and roads. Many parks rely on shuttle buses to deal with the massive influx of tourists. At Rocky Mountain, for example, the popular Bear Lake Corridor has special, more limited, timed entry and shuttle buses from remote parking lots. Those lots feature overwhelmed pit toilets and long queues to board the bus. Finally, almost every park has implemented reservation systems for campgrounds, and they’re mostly full. Those reservations are managed by park hosts and rangers. In other words, this ain’t your 2018-2019 National Parks. There’s no way these parks can open unstaffed in 2023.
Finally, Trump did not leave all parks and national monuments open, because I vividly remember trying to visit Capulin Volcano National Monument in New Mexico during the last shitdown, and the gates were locked. It was only the marquee properties, like Joshua Tree, that were left open for assholes to go wilding.
Unfortunately, this will be catastrophic to people who have long-standing plans to visit parks, and the both-sides media will not effectively or clearly tie the cost of thousands of cancelled trips (both to tourists and the towns near parks) to Republicans. It will be “Congress” or “Washington”. Local media will also do a poor job because lots of parks are in red states, or in red parts of purple states, and you well know that Freak Caucus reps like Boebert, Gosar and Hageman will be spinning like crazy to blame the mayhem on anyone but them.
These assholes just want to burn everything down and then shove the matches in Democrats’ pockets. Since only Democrats can have agency, and since being bi-partisan is only expected if you’re a Democrat, the obvious and simple solution of a CR without poison pills — a bill that almost 400 House members would vote for — is not being discussed in the press. That said, I’m not cancelling my reservations yet, because MyKevin might just decide to call the bluff of Gaetz et. al. and schedule a vote on a bi-partisan CR just before midnight on Sunday. I wish a motherfucker would, but it’s hard to predict the actions of the craven when faced with the crazy.
Jeffro
I have a high school classmate whose daughter’s dream was to get married in Shenandoah National Park, and they planned it for this weekend, and well…fuck puppet-master trump and his little trolls in the House. Even if they somehow pass something tomorrow evening, it’ll be too late.
I’m heartened that most of the snooze media’s coverage has laid the blame squarely where it belongs: the GOP’s utter inability to govern.
bbleh
MyKevin might just decide to call the bluff of Gaetz et. al. and schedule a vote on a bi-partisan CR
Boy I hope he does! Not just because it would avoid all the chaos of a shutdown — which will be extremely inconvenient for some people and a genuine hardship for others — but also because it would split the Republicans right down the middle, or close enough. It would be a catastrophe for them (which is one reason I don’t think he’ll do it).
TriassicSands
Well, it’s not stupid at all, as long as you do it in July or August and take plenty of alcohol for adult hydration. It’s also best to leave the sunscreen in the car, or at home, or, better yet, don’t buy any in the first place. Hats? A bad idea. Because it will be hot, definitely let the kid’s take off their shirts. Dad should do that too. Getting a late start is also advisable. Oh, and remember, walking miles uphill on the return is no harder than descending and it won’t take any longer. Have fun.
I’ve seen all that.
Gvg
I can’t understand why they keep doing the same thing over again and again. They really actually think government is a bad thing and should/could wither away. It’s as naive as Marx or Ayn Rand and libertarianism. These people have no idea how much is not natural and is built on what came before. They have no idea that roads don’t just magically appear out of nowhere or the existence of courts and cops keeps them alive every day. We need the things taxes pay for and the poor little rich people are not over taxed at all.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
With ranger Smith furloughed Yogi Bear will have a field day
Hoppie
@Gvg: They really like how it feels when they stop smashing their heads against the wall?
Mike in NC
If the GQP ever puts Fat Bastard back in the White House, he’ll try to close the national parks and have them reopened as luxury golf courses only open to the right-wing billionaires who give presents to Clarence Thomas.
Frankensteinbeck
Just this once, yeah, actually I think the media will. It’s practically unprecedented, but Republicans are squarely and solely getting the blame by the news. Overwhelmingly, the coverage is that this is Republican incompetence and infighting, not ‘congress’.
TriassicSands
For many years, I spent a great deal of time in National Parks and Wilderness Areas. I always made it a rule to never be in any of those on or near Memorial Day, the Fourth, or Labor Day. One year, I was in Olympic National Park with my then wife. She flew back to Colorado, while I stayed on to do some large format photography.
Oops! I hadn’t realized it, but it was Labor Day. I couldn’t go anywhere else, because it would have been impossible to find a camping spot, so I hunkered down and decided to spend the weekend in my tent reading. What I witnessed over the next few days was horrifying. The park was fully staffed, but overwhelmed. People were driving all over vegetation, parking in illegal and unsafe places, throwing trash everywhere, it was disgusting. The amount of damage that was done that weekend, despite full staffing, was incredible. Keeping parks open without official personnel would be grossly irresponsible.
All parks should have a sign prominently displayed at entrances and on websites, “This Park is closed because of the incompetence and extremism of the Republican Party. Think twice the next time you vote.” (Of course, they can’t do that.)
TriassicSands
@Hoppie:
When do they ever stop smashing their heads against the wall?
wjca
AND all required to be prominently labeled with his name.
BellyCat
Why would you cancel your reservations? If the park is open then, you’re golden. If not, you get the opportunity to navigate the (undoubtedly) efficient government mechanism that will expeditiously provide refunds. //
Sister Golden Bear
I’m going to Maui next week, and hoped to do sunset on Haleakala (the volcano), but at this point, is probably not gonna happens. Thanks for nothing, assholes.
Ken
@Frankensteinbeck: It helps of course that so many Republicans are saying that it’s the Republicans’ fault.
Tom Levenson
Lassen Volcanic National Park was my summer backyard for my entire childhood (from 5 y.o. on). Its glory was that it was the afterthought of California’s national parks. It had a visitor count over an entire season that was the same or less than what Yosemite saw in a summer weekend. 2/3 of the park burned in 2020, but it is still a better bet than the touron destinations.
Which is to say that celebrity is a wretched drug for places as well as people.
bbleh
@Sister Golden Bear: if you’re gonna do sunRISE — which is more popular cuz it’s more likely to be clear — they require reservations now, and be sure to wear something WARM!
And THEN do your day hike down into the lava field in flip-flops with just a little pint-bottle of water.
Villago Delenda Est
@TriassicSands: And all that happened in supposedly ecology conscious Washington State, too. Imagine if what would happen in an Alabama located National Park.
Eolirin
@Ken: Yeah, the fact that the Senate has its shit together (enough anyway) and the Senate Republicans (and some House Republicans) are pretty against this and keep saying so very plainly is making it really easy for the press to just report on that.
If the press is good for one thing it’s repeating what Republicans say. For once this is working in our favor a little.
Dan B
@Villago Delenda Est: Olympic, Mt. Rainier, and St. Helen’s get lots of out of state tourists, not that locals are better but I see very few problems where it’s mainly locals. There are lots of parks unfamiliar to folks from out of state.
Jeffro
@TriassicSands: sounds like Ranger confidential (the book)!
put me and Mrs Fro off of all our illusions about serving as park rangers when we retire 😁
bbleh
@Sister Golden Bear: and PS, you can get almost to the top — like above 8000 or 9000 feet — BEFORE you pass the entrance booth, and there are several pullouts, so unless they block the road lower down, you can probably do it anyway.
Mousebumples
Oooh, that’s too bad. 10 years ago (another GOP shutdown), and my sister and I were on Maui. Thankfully, we got there before the shutdown and did Haleakala before the shutdown.
Hope you enjoy the trip, all the same!
Yarrow
Just heard from some friends who are doing a national park tour. They’re leaving one park on October 1st and were scheduling to camp at another one starting on October 2nd but that isn’t going to happen. They’re disappointed and pissed off.
Ruckus
@Tom Levenson:
Lassen Volcanic National Park is an amazing place. As are a lot of our National Parks. Why it is not more widely seen is a mystery to me.
Matt McIrvin
Aside from the purely practical/ethical considerations–Biden has good political reasons to close the parks rather than leaving them open without staff. The Republicans are getting the blame for the shutdown, so Biden probably wants people to be upset about it, and this is something that will do that without actually seriously harming the public.
TriassicSands
@Villago Delenda Est:
The body count would have been higher. And there might have been a lot more gunfire and explosions.
One of the things that happened was mostly very sad, but almost funny in a tragic sort of way (both for the “victim” and the environment). I approached a ranger to ask a question, but before I got to him a frantic man ran up. He had just bought a brand new Ford Bronco (4WD) days before the holiday and had been driving on nearby Forest Service roads. (Note: Some of the steepest hill- and mountainsides I’ve ever seen are in the Olympics)
He had stopped for some reason and got out of his vehicle, which had a manual transmission. He had never had stick before, but he very carefully put the transmission in neutral so it would not stall and, since he’d only driven automatics in the past, he didn’t engage the parking brake. (Did he think neutral was the equivalent of “Park?”) The vehicle rolled off the road and destroying trees and vegetation all the way down rolled, crashed, and tumbled something like 2,000 feet down the mountainside (his estimate) before coming to rest.
He was in tears (understandably) and wanted to know if they would get a helicopter to extract his vehicle. I turned away to give him privacy so I didn’t hear much more, but the ranger was pretty much speechless.
Tom Levenson
@Ruckus: I know, right?
Origuy
There are a lot of state parks that have some attractions that equal most National Parks. Can’t get into Yosemite? Calaveras Big Trees SP is just up the road.
Tom Levenson
@TriassicSands: Arrrgh. I consider myself beyond lucky that I was taught to drive by my ex Brit military uncle on a 20+ year old land rover pickup with four on the floor and vestigial synchromesh. The assumptions people make about vehicles still astounds me. (Tragic story: a high school classmate of mine didn’t know that if you shut off the ignition the power steering doesn’t have any power anymore. She did this late one night on Marin St. in Berkeley, and died (with a friend) in the inevitable crash.) Almost 50 years ago now, and still such an unnecessary waste.
TriassicSands
But is that a good idea? If Sister Golden Bear can do that, why not everyone and then you have the potential for what was described in this post.
@Sister Golden Bear:
I really hope the park is open and you can make the trip. Haleakala is astoundingly beautiful, but as was described up above, the potential for damage in the absence of staff is overwhelming and if one person can ignore the closure, then why not everyone?
One note: When I was there, the conventional wisdom was that you should drive the Hana highway during the day. I thought exactly the opposite. During the day, you can’t see traffic coming because of all the turns, but at night there is much less traffic and you can see headlights approaching and be prepared.
If you can’t postpone the trip, there is still a lot to see and do on Maui, but for me, Haleakala was the highpoint (both literally and figuratively.)
Good luck.
Hkedi [Kang T.C.]
@Sister Golden Bear: want to try and do a meetup with notmax and I while you are on island?
Tom Levenson
@Origuy: Yup. See e.g. Purissima Creek—a state park an hour or less south of SF, and practically a private redwood grove compared with Muir Woods.
Tom Levenson
@TriassicSands: One of the reasons I love the Big Island is because of the views of Haleakala. I’ve had the extraordinary good fortune to do so from the summit ridge of Mauna Kea, which is not really accessible to the public,but it’s greatly from the top of the pass through the Kohala mountains and from the slope above Hawi. Such an iconic peak.
Ruckus
@TriassicSands:
Was in the boy scouts about a thousand years ago and we were going camping in the High Sierra as our main summer camping outing. We stopped on a dirt road, and the driver got out to talk to one of the other drivers. He of course was a dipshit and didn’t actually put it in park or set the brake. I had to jump out of the back seat and back in the front and stop the car and do the things a normal adult would do when getting out of the car. This was a scout’s father and we all considered him to be a putz. Which he proved us right that day.
TriassicSands
@Ruckus:
So, you’re lucky to be with us today.
TriassicSands
@Jeffro:
When I was in Alaska, at Denali, I had a friend who drove one of the buses that took passengers (free) all the way to Eielson Visitor Center at mile 66 in the park. He told stories of the questions that tourists asked. His policy was to stop for every improved wildlife sighting. Caribou 5,000 meters from the road. He’d stop. If the next caribou sighting was not significantly closer, he wouldn’t stop.
He was very knowledgeable, especially about birds, so he would give informative talks about the flora and fauna when they stopped. One of his favorites questions occurred at Eielson VC. From there one can see the glacial moraine below Denali. The tourist wanted to know when “the tide came in.” Um, Denali is more that a few miles from the ocean.
At one point, he stopped for some ptarmigan right by the side of the road. His specialty. He launched into explaining all about the life cycle and habits of ptarmigan. A woman was looking out the window studying the critter right below her. Suddenly, she interrupted him and shouted, “Bird, that looks like a rat to me!” She was focused on an arctic ground squirrel.
On the bus I was on, we stopped to watch two beautiful, very blonde Toklat grizzly bears engaged in digging up and eating ground squirrels. (The demonstration of physical prowess and power was
almostfrightening. Poor squirrels!) In this case, a tourist asked what kind of bears they were. Someone, correctly, said “grizzlies.” However, another tourist launched into his own little authoritative speech about how they weren’t grizzly bears because grizzlies “aren’t that color.” Of course, he had no idea what he was talking about and couldn’t identify what they were, because if grizzlies aren’t that color, then, of course, black bears couldn’t be blonde either. Obviously, they weren’t polar bears, because they are white, and unlike the color of the other two species, sort of reliably one color.* Gee, they must have been blonde bears.That was the general level of discourse among tourists on those busses. I wondered how anyone could come so far without knowing anything at all about what they were going to see. Oh, right, that was before the Internet so such information could only be found in books. In other words, inaccessible to most of the visitors.
That was before digital cameras and most tourists had either small point and shoot cameras or 35mm SLRs. However, the majority of them only had the standard 50mm lens. I was amused watching them take photographs of animals 1/4 mile or more away from the road with that lens. I have a feeling there was some disappointment at the results.
* They aren’t actually white. Their fur is transparent. They look white because their fur scatters sunlight which is white. Under some lighting they can appear cream, yellowish, greenish (algae). Their skin is actually black.
frosty
@Tom Levenson: We went to Lassen in 2022. Our park visits were scheduled around our drive so it was early in the season and the park road was snowed in. The ranger told us we could hike or bike up to where the plows were working, but it was a 3,000 foot elevation change.
We hauled out our eBikes and after the first mile or so we had the park to ourselves! And honestly, we wouldn’t have done it much differently even in high summer; our back country hiking days are pretty much done. No cars on the road was a treat.
Sister Golden Bear
@bbleh: Nope, doing the sunSET. I’m from CA, so it’s only a 3 hour time difference, and I’m not a morning person. So getting up at 3 a.m. to see the sunRISE doesn’t appeal to me.
I’ve been there before, so I’m well-aware of the temperature difference, but thanks for the heads-up
@TriassicSands: I’m driving Hana on Sunday — far fewer locals driving — and I’ve driven it before so I know what to expect from turons. If you just want to get to Hana, I see the logic of driving at night, but the big appeal for me is the scenery along the way.
@Hkedi [Kang T.C.]: Meet up would be fun. My email is olsen at pobox dot com
Ruckus
@TriassicSands:
That one wasn’t even close.
I have better stories.
I’ve been hit head on by a pick up truck (my neighbor! it was dark without any street light there) after having been thrown off my motorcycle because of a coyote – on my own street! Walked/rode away only moderately worse for wear. I believed in wearing the best gear when riding. Had to replace my helmet. Without a very good one I might not have walked away.
What’s life without a few pitfalls along the way? I’ve got a lot more years in me but the first 74 have not been too bad. OK some were better than others……
wjca
Not to go all pedantic or anything (who, me?), but sunrise in Hawai’i would be 9 AM California time. Still maybe a bit early for a non-morning person, but….
Tom Levenson
@frosty: sounds idyllic to me!
TriassicSands
@Sister Golden Bear:
The scenery is worth a daytime trip. We returned during the day, and had planned to go during the day the first time. However, life intervened and in a story much too weird and long to relate here we had to ferry a self-proclaimed, blond, blue-eyed “Kahuna sorcerer” to Hana or figure out what else to do with a drunk, hypothermic idiot who had taken way too much Xanax and wanted to sleep in our car. We didn’t know him, but met when he repeatedly called out “Help” in the middle of one of the darkest, blackest nights of my life at the roadside camping area where we were sleeping.
Again, for more reasons, obviously, than your trip, I hope the shutdown is averted and you can do everything you have planned.
TriassicSands
@Ruckus:
So, I repeat, you’re lucky to be with us today.
I have had some very close calls, which made it clear that getting through life is often little more than luck, even if we have done everything right up to that point, for example, when a semi-truck driving on the shoulder passes you at ~105mph descending from the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70, cuts in front of you so abruptly that the passenger side wheels on the trailer leave the ground, and then has to cut all the way back to the far right lane with other cars everywhere. It’s not good when a semi-truck going 70+mph loses its brakes. And that’s not my closest.
mrmoshpotato
@Jeffro: I hope your friend’s daughter forever remembers that the Rethuglican brats ruined her dream wedding.
Ruckus
@TriassicSands:
I’ve seen the results of that and have crossed the country in a truck with a 50 foot trailer. Good times. There is a reason that big trucks have a speed limit that isn’t insane. At least in some states. The stopping distance is ever so slightly longer in a lot of tons truck.
NotMax
@Sister Golden Bear
If there’s a government shutdown, Haleakala National Park will be closed.
Jim Appleton
@Tom Levenson:
1. Vestigial synchromesh is now my favorite phrase.
2. I grew up at Spruce and Marin, think I know which of sadly many wrecks you speak.