Federal Government Policy and Business

At national parks, the confusing reality of the government shutdown's first day

The Washington Post: JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Jay Brown and Michelle Tukel picked a surreal weekend to visit sprawling Joshua Tree National Park. They arrived from Detroit to find the Southern California desert covered with a morning dusting of snow, and it was — briefly — colder than Michigan.

Stranger yet, the popular park was open but eerily devoid of staff.

Interested in learning about the trailheads, Brown, 61, found the doors to the visitor center locked. Brown approached a man wearing a beige uniform, thinking he was a park ranger, but the man turned out to be a Boy Scout supervisor who also was looking for information.

“I’m a little worried,” said Brown, the chief financial officer of an automotive manufacturing company. “I don’t want to go in and get lost in this freezing cold with nothing but my shoelaces. But apparently that’s what we’re going to do.”

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