Kicked out of campgrounds??

[Johno02]

How many have been told they have to leave campgrounds due to government shutdown?? And what did you do?? Where did you find a place to stay?? Did they give you any warning??
We got thrown out on the previous shutdown several years ago. Thank goodness, we were expecting it, and were close enough to home to drive in one day.

[ken56]

For being public lands it seems wrong to deny the public use of those lands and access to trails. You would think our government owns those lands and you just get to pay for them.

[midnightsadie]

nothing should be shut down, and the boys@girls should all be fired ,that caused any of this.

[wanderingaimles]

Went back and looked at the Jan of 18 post, seems that things were fairly quiet for a while on that shutdown. The prior ones (5 years ago) show up on youtube with a lot of clips showing closed parks on the first day, apparently reporters were led to different locations to show the maximum impact they could.

[Johno02]

We were at Canal COE campground in Kentucky Land Between the Lakes during the first shutdown. The rangers told us that they were planning on staying open, as their budget for the year had already been allocated and would not be affected. Everything was fine until a local television crew found out that they were planning to stay open, then came out and talked about that on national news. Raised such a row that the higher-ups decided to close it all anyway, just because it looked bad for them to be open.. So, even though their money had been previously allocated, they went out and bought very expensive hasps and padlock, then paid maintenance for several days labor to travel the entire length of LBL, installing hasps and padlocks on all the restrooms and porta potties, which never had locks installed as they were not needed. Spend much of the money allocated for the campgrounds on locking it up for about three days. Would have been cheaper just to pay armed guards on the porta potties. Typical DC thinking.. Any more questions about what is wrong??

[Terryallan]

Johno02 wrote:
How many have been told they have to leave campgrounds due to government shutdown?? And what did you do?? Where did you find a place to stay?? Did they give you any warning??
We got thrown out on the previous shutdown several years ago. Thank goodness, we were expecting it, and were close enough to home to drive in one day.

Unlike before. This time the National Parks are being kept open. No one should be kicked out.

[2oldman]

It's always the parks that shut down. Always. Why is that?

[shelbyfv]

dodge guy wrote:
The NP’s are run by an outside firm. I don’t even know why they would shut down?!!

Some but not all park campgrounds are operated by concessionaires. I don't think any entire parks are contracted out. Regardless, I doubt concessionaires want to work w/o being paid.

[dodge_guy]

The NP’s are run by an outside firm. I don’t even know why they would shut down?!!

[wa8yxm]

Almost happened to me last shutdown but they re-opened in time for me to check in. They did offer a refund.

[DutchmenSport]

shelbyfv wrote:
Restrooms along the Natchez Trace Pkwy are closed.

Glad we bring our own with us!

We were on the Natchez over Thanksgiving. Amazing, our 13 foot 4 inch high fifth wheel made it ok under all those overpasses! I was fretting at first, but turned out to be OK after all.

We've driven it before, but never with a camper this tall until then.

[goducks10]

wanderingaimlessly wrote:
Closure of facilities is a choice made by an administration. Last January it only lasted a couple of days, and I dont remember a lot of problems from it. Some on here who were in Govt run areas may have had different experiences. But I dont think that rangers and staff were going out of their way to create problems for folks. I seem to remember the prior administration taking a different approach, largely because they wanted to make a spectacle of the whole thing.

I would expect a week to go relatively un noticed, after that maintenance on dump, garbage removal, etc will start to create problems for some and may press closure in some areas. It all depends on how much the press tries to pump the issue and whether the public buys the spin.

I think we're in this perdickerment because someone wanted to make a spectacle.

[shelbyfv]

Restrooms along the Natchez Trace Pkwy are closed.

[wanderingaimles]

Closure of facilities is a choice made by an administration. Last January it only lasted a couple of days, and I dont remember a lot of problems from it. Some on here who were in Govt run areas may have had different experiences. But I dont think that rangers and staff were going out of their way to create problems for folks. I seem to remember the prior administration taking a different approach, largely because they wanted to make a spectacle of the whole thing.

I would expect a week to go relatively un noticed, after that maintenance on dump, garbage removal, etc will start to create problems for some and may press closure in some areas. It all depends on how much the press tries to pump the issue and whether the public buys the spin.

[wrgrs50s]

Recreation.gov for Texas Corp of Engineers has a notice on their website that says not to attempt to make reservations starting December 22nd until further notice.