Maze Trip – May Not Happen!
Let me start out by saying: I hate making reservations in Canyonlands National Park…..which is why I haven’t been to The Maze yet (or the White Rim for that matter). Last year I finally decided I wanted to go to The Maze and actually made reservations, took the time off from work and planned the trip ahead of time…which is supposed to start on Saturday.
Things aren’t looking good, and I’m pretty upset about it!
Here’s an email I received from Canyonlands yesterday…..
Randy,
In the unfortunate event that federal employees are furloughed, the
national park system, including Canyonlands National Park, will be closed.
We wanted to provide advance notice that you may not be able to begin your
backcountry trip due to this closure. *If this closure prevents you from
using your current reservation, we will be glad to try and rebook your
reservation for a future date.
If you decide to cancel your reservation and you paid by credit card we
will refund your reservation fee back to your credit card.
If you paid by means other than credit card we will refund your reservation
fee once we are provided guidance on how to process these payments.
Canyonlands National Park Reservation Office
435-259-4351 M-F 8am-12:30pm MST
(fax) 435-259-4285
canyres@nps.gov
I have contacted the park, and apparently if they shut down, they will be kicking people out and making sure no one enters. Law Enforcement is considered ‘essential personnel’ and their only job during the government shutdown would be keeping people out of the parks.
Time to start making some backup plans…..