As of this morning it appears Congress may be close to finalizing a deal to end the federal government shutdown. I wonder how long it will take to reopen federal CG's after the shutdown ends, since we have or had reservations for camping at a federal CG this coming weekend.Do any of you have any idea how long it will take after the shutdown ends to unlock the gates and turn the water on at the federal CG's?

Bet ya not as fast as they closed them LOL

How long to get the volunteer staff to come back from where they went for the winter?

My best guess is 0-3 days depending on availability of staff.

Our reservation was for today thru Sunday. It's not going to happen. Ours was all paid in advance. I am wondering how much of a hassle it will be getting a refund. All of the websites are shut down and they are not answering the phone.

D & M wrote:Bet ya not as fast as they closed them LOLBeat me to it!!!

How long until Federal CG's open after shutdown ends ?

18 Replies

2gypsies1
Explorer III
Oct 23, 2013
You underestimate just how many man hours and money it takes to run a national park. Volunteers do a small part of it...(we're volunteers).
dodge_guy
Explorer II
Oct 23, 2013
Well this brings up another question! With so many volunteers, how did closing the parks help the govt? Sounds like all they did was remove a large income for a few weeks!
jamway
Explorer
Oct 23, 2013
rockhillmanor wrote:
YEA! The parks are finally open.

Most of the COE parks in the DFW area are closed.
rockhillmanor
Explorer II
Oct 22, 2013
YEA! The parks are finally open.
tatest
Explorer II
Oct 19, 2013
Closest one to my house re-opened the next day, with 14 days to end of season. I'm out there.
EPenney
Explorer
Oct 17, 2013
The recreation.gov website is back up & running this morning. I checked, and our reservations for this weekend are still valid. Brought my 5er home yesterday to start getting ready to leave tomorrow.
chris3403
Explorer
Oct 16, 2013
Earlier this week I drove past COE Bailey's Point, Barren Lake Kentucky and the sign said; closed for the season. Normally they close the last day of October.
JnJnKatiebug
Explorer
Oct 16, 2013
4runnerguy wrote:
If the experiences in Arches, Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain and the other NP's opened last weekend are any indication, the CG's will open the next day. If, like JnJnKatiebug one has a reservation that has started before the parks reopen, the remainder of that reservation will begin the day the CG's open back up. Refunds for days when the CG was closed are automatic. As far as the volunteer staff, in the cases I'm aware of, they are still at the CG's.

JnJnKatiebug: the www.recreation.gov website is up with questions answered about what is going on including your question on refunds and reservations. Also, there is a phone number to call: 1-888-448-1474 I had no trouble at all reaching someone there. You can still cancel reservations at that number but not make new ones. Otherwise, they will basically answer the questions that they have on their web page.

I would note to anyone with a reservation that if the parks open in the middle of your reservation and you can't make it there anymore, you might want to cancel the reservation or they will charge you for the days they are open that they don't use.

Thanks, when I checked a couple of days ago it just said it was unavailable.
katfish
Explorer
Oct 16, 2013
JnJnKatiebug wrote:
Our reservation was for today thru Sunday. It's not going to happen. Ours was all paid in advance. I am wondering how much of a hassle it will be getting a refund. All of the websites are shut down and they are not answering the phone.

We received ours back on our credit card the day after our reservation date.
Did not have to call????
Good luck.
raindove
Explorer
Oct 16, 2013
We called the rec.gov number. Had reservations Sunday thru Tues - will have to wait for approvals on refunds. They still don't know when the parks will re-open. She said to just keep watching the web site. It will be first come, first served when they open. Hate to drive all that way and then not be able to get in. Decisions, decisions.....