Government Shutdown

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chief54
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Government Shutdown

Post by chief54 »

In process of planing, making reservations for early June trip. Have got reservations for housekeeping cottage midway through trip and lodge last night of trip plus water taxi. Still need to make Voyager, Float plane and Ranger reservations. So I got to thinking, which is not always a good idea, what happens if the so called adults running our country and I use that term loosely, still can not get their act together and government is shut down. Out here in California, Yosemite, Death Valley are closed unless you have lodging reservations. Sequoia and Kings Canyon are closed but not sure about whether you can get in if you have lodging reservation. So curious what Isle Royale would do. this thought came to me last night so I have not tried calling IR headquarters but this time of year nobody is there anyway. Will call RH lodge tomorrow and see if they have even given this a thought. If shutdown still going on or a variation of it which is certainly possible with the way things are now a days, park is closed Ranger would not run but everything else is private so......I ride the Ranger out and fly back maybe should just fly there and back but love to ride Ranger. I need to make flight reservations out to Houghton and want to get this all nailed down but not sure now. Any thoughts out there
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Re: Government Shutdown

Post by torpified »

Even though I'm an advanced worrier, I wasn't going to start to worry about this until after tax day! One thought is that it might be difficult for the concessionaire to keep things running on its own, because the Ranger is crucial to its supply chain.
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Re: Government Shutdown

Post by Tom »

While it's an exercise of wild speculation, I know there has been precedent for some very early season trips of the Voyageur II to beat the rangers being posted at Windigo, and so the rule was to "permit yourself." Not sure what that means for the latest fee collection, but everything is in good faith, anyway.
I think the 'currently open' national parks keep the trails/areas/etc open as best as possible provided staff aren't needed for their operation, which, honestly, is most of Isle Royale. Sure, no potable water or visitors centers, but trails, shelters, and pit toilets don't require constant maintenance.
I would presume, though, the Ranger III wouldn't be running.

Let's just hope we're not still wondering come April 15th...
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chief54
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Re: Government Shutdown

Post by chief54 »

both comments are appreciated. Good point about the lodges being supported by the Ranger. I guess the question is would the Park Service, if closed allow sea plane, Vogaguer, Queen still take folks out there. I do not have a lot of faith in the powers that be and Plane tickets are expensive to purchase and then change if the need arises.
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Re: Government Shutdown

Post by Capt Don »

I forget exactly how long it was but 6-7 years ago when the gov shut down at the end of September we were informed by the park that we needed to get everyone off of the island. We were not allowed to bring visitors either. This was of minimal impact since the Voyageur only had a handful of days left to run that season and the other boats had already finished. I can only guess if those policies have changed or still stand since there have been changes in law enforcement supervisory staff since then. Or if official government policy has been established regarding national park visitation during shutdown. Parks that have roads through them are difficult to close completely but parks like Isle Royale that require concession transport to and from could easily be closed if they tell us to stop, I know there was some confusion amongst law enforcement regarding private boats coming out to fish and the final thought was that while they could fish in park waters they were forbidden from touching land. Hopefully this will not be anything but something we thought about while watching the snow fall in January by the time May rolls around.
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Re: Government Shutdown

Post by hooky »

That may be the case again, Capt Don. Rolf said the wolf moose study has been shut down, not because of finding, but because the NPS isn't allowing anyone to access to the park.
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Re: Government Shutdown

Post by chief54 »

Once again thanks for input, all I can say is Wow about keeping out the wolf study folks. Just amazing. Even if and or when the morons end the shutdown there is no telling if it will not happen again and again and again. all bets are off. I have made all necessary reservations got my trip for end of May beginning June.
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Re: Government Shutdown

Post by hooky »

chief54 wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:56 am Once again thanks for input, all I can say is Wow about keeping out the wolf study folks. Just amazing. Even if and or when the morons end the shutdown there is no telling if it will not happen again and again and again. all bets are off. I have made all necessary reservations got my trip for end of May beginning June.
I put this on the NPS. It's closed to the public during this time anyway. There are plenty of other parks that are still open to the public. Both sides of this coin play politics with this stuff.
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