No, of course it’s not theirs. However, administration and care of national parks fall under the federal government. This prevents idiots from trashing our national treasures. Geez, do you guys line your ridiculous little tri corner hats with tinfoil?

I didn’t take any pictures of the parking lot, but I don’t recall seeing any barricades there. If they were, they were not blocking access to the parking lot. There weren’t many hikers on the AT, but dozens of tourists were going around the orange barrel and walking down the trail just to say they’ve been on it.

Jay,

If you took any pictures of the New Found Gap trailhead parking, I would love to see it and even post it here. Your comment suggests that the barricades I saw last week are now gone, which means the park service has retreated, probably due to the number of people who kept removing the barricades that were there.

Another good idea!

Good idea!

Such B.S. — the trails and trailheads at Stone Church trails in Wayne National Forest are largely maintained by volunteers anyway.

I think what people ought to take away from this shutdown is “Hey, guess what, federal government? You shutdown and all of a sudden we realized we don’t need you.”

How about closing golf courses during the shutdown? Bet that would put a hitch in someone’s giddy-up!

Someone needs to tell Harry Reid and Obama. It is not theirs to close.

Keep the faith.

Our local middle school has a trip to Tremont in the Smokies coming up on Monday. About 100 fifth and sixth graders are going to get their first taste of big government.

Heil!

Oh come on, Al – if it involves the federal gov’t, it probably has a panda director, panda producer, panda makeup artist, panda stunt double, panda stand in, animatronic panda for when the real panda needs a break, panda food service, etc. You get the picture! :)

There are always totalitarian apologists anxious to lick the boot that kicks them. I suggest you visit an orthopedist and see what is wrong with your spine.

I’m all for the NPS spending the money and effort to promote personal responsibility but not waste effort/money on blocking access. With all this happy talk about community service, now would be the time for people to step up and handle it ourselves rather than paying for a big, bloated bureaucracy to handle it.

Party over public, that is why they are not trusted.

In short, act like any sensible American citizen. None of us needs the feds’ permission to use parks.

Interesting. So it is all theatre. Thanks for the info Trent.

Contact your local Tea Party and Republican Party and give them the idea.

They can make a press statement that any public park that starts to get garbage filled up and they will try their best to clean it up.

Make the local Gov workers and Dem partys all ticked off and up in a dither.

Scouts and other civic groups are just begging for a reason to take a nice hike for the day.

What a way for the local Republican party and Tea Party groups to make a nice impression.