ETSU, isn't there a lot of mountain range there outside the National Park? Don't cancel the trip, just have a Plan B!

A little history: Back in the 1980's, this sort of thing happened every year--it was a regular feature of the Federal fiscal year-end. I was working for a government contractor at the time. They had to give contractor employees 2 weeks' notice on October 1, but the shutdown never lasted that long. At Mt. Rainier NP they closed the park but not the gates, so we could get in free.

In 1995, Mt. Rainier NP closed the gates. That closure, of course, lasted a lot longer. I was no longer working for the contractor, so I don't know what happened there. I never did get my Social Security card replaced after my wallet was stolen from my desk at work in mid-December of that year. That shutdown lasted so long that the whole idea became politically unpopular--at least for the next 18 years.