Tourists feel the government shutdown as parts of Rainier, Olympic close

Rebecca Brooks is the manager of the Whittaker Mountaineering Store, just outside the entrance to Mount Rainier on the Paradise side.

She says, normally, the holiday break is the peak of the winter season, when she brings in her full staff and extends store hours.

But not this year.

“It’s a ghost town,” Brooks said. “We’re seeing a couple people a day as opposed to a couple hundred people a day.”

That’s because of the federal government’s shutdown. Parts of Mount Rainier National Park are open, but, with staff reduced to a minimum, all the park’s visitor centers and full-service restrooms are closed. There’s also no one to plow the roads, so access to all the areas with snow, including Paradise, is blocked.

That means people who want to go snowshoeing or sledding are staying away, and fewer visitors are coming through nearby towns.

“The economics of it are pretty obvious,” Brooks said. “We aren’t bringing in as much as we need to.”

Campgrounds and visitor centers are also closed at Olympic National Park.

There, a windstorm with hurricane-force gusts downed trees throughout the park right before the government shutdown. Until the shutdown ends, there will be no one to clear the roads, so large parts of the park remain inaccessible.

That said, tourists are still coming through to drive around the park and hike on the trails they can reach.

Teresa Staley is the manager of the Peak 6 Tours and Gift Shop, in the Olympic National Park right outside of the Hoh Rainforest. She said she’s seeing as many people as usual this time of year, but many are disappointed to learn that the rainforest itself is closed.

“There’s a ranger there making sure people don’t go in,” Staley said.

As for visiting the parts of national parks that remain open, Rebecca Brooks, of the Whittaker Mountaineering Store, urges everyone who chooses to do so to be extra careful.

“There’s no one to help you if you get stuck,” she said.

She said she and others near Mount Rainier are “just, like, holding their breath for when this is going to end.”

Members of Congress can resume negotiations to resolve the budget impasse when they return to work on Thursday.