wbwood wrote:
melhow wrote:
Morning all - as a follow up to this thread, my husband went up early and is now being evicted from Elkmont. The rangers indicated the campers have to leave in a timely fashion, which translates to 48 hours from 12:01 Am this morning. The rangers also indicated that all three campgrounds in the Smokies that have not already been closed due to sequester (Elkmont, Cades Cove and Smokemont) are booked full this weekend, which translates to 501 campsites being emptied and spilled into the surrounding area, which is also booked full due to this being high season.
So, long story short - If you were planning a trip to the area for the next two weeks and don't already have alternate plans, I'd probably just cancel. Everything I heard on the news indicates the shutdown will last, at the minimum, one week, but more than likely will extend until the 17th.
This will be devastating to the area. What a shame.
We had reservations for Cades Cove for this coming weekend. In light of the possible shutdown, I made reservations on Sunday for a cabin in the Wears Valley area instead. I was going to cancel my reservation at Cades Cove on monday, but decided to wait until Tuesday (10-1-13) to see if the shutdown happened. I was going to try and save my $10 cancellation fee. I called Recreation.gov this morning and they told me they are handling it on a day by day basis. They said the shutdown could end the next day.I explained to the lady that my reservations were for 3 days away. They would not offer a full refund. Kind of crappy if you ask me. They want you to wait it out. But if I do and cancel on Thursday, then I loose a days fee. I hung up and went on their website and canceled. Then later, their site went down. Guess I got in there in the knick of time. Lost $10 on it. Oh well.
i wonder if you could get a rain check.
