This Examiner has secured information from a very credible and very reliable source, in conversation with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s Public Information Officer. According to Mr. Bob Miller, the Great Smokey Mountains National Park will indeed be closed to all traffic and that includes the Appalachian Trail. This is in the event that the government cannot come to a conclusion by midnight tonight and the federal government shuts down.
In fact Mr. Bod Miller, who is the parks Public Information Officer said that all hiking trails in the national park will be closed and so that most likely means ALL national parks. National parks are federally funded and so when there is a government shut down due to lack of funds, the national parks and places like that are first to close their doors.
With just 9 hours left the US government is struggling to come up with results that will prevent for the federal government from shutting down. A government shut down at midnight tonight would seriously affect the Appalachian Trail and all its thousands of hikers that are at the peak of their hike. If you are out on the trail and are nearing any national park, be aware that you will not be allowed into the park.
All Appalachian Trail hikers that are nearing the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are warned that you will not be allowed to walk the trail through the park and so you will have two options. 1- You can get off the trail at the southern boundary of the Smokies and reenter the trail above the northern boundary of the smokies. Or 2- you can stay put below the southern boundary and hope that the government will come to a quick conclusion and reopen federal funded places in a few days.
According to the Associated Press, the last Government shut down occurred in 1995 and since it happened around a season where spending was at an all-time high not a lot of people seemed to be effected. If a government shutdown cannot be avoided by midnight tonight, 800,000 federal workers could be laid off without pay.
If you are hiking the trail, it is a great time, better being out there than being in society and having to deal with what will take place if and when the government shuts down. As seen on the Appalachian Trail Conference’s Facebook page, people are already talking about running ramped through the federal parks.
Be forewarned though, even though the federal parks will shut down, law enforcement will not shut down and so you can bet that they will be watching the trails and camp areas in the parks.
