Red Rock visitors see little effect from government shutdown

The usual happenings in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area carried on Saturday despite a partial government shutdown now expected to drag into Christmas.

Rock climbers ascended mountainsides, leaving their mark on the famed red rocks with their white chalk. Hikers and campers explored the park’s winding trails. Tourists posed for photos, some even unaware Saturday of the lapsed federal funding. And private tours went on without a hitch.

By the looks of it, it would have been difficult to discern a shutdown was in effect at all — at least inside the scenic loop — if not for the closed signs plastered at the entrance.

“Attention: Due to the lapse in federal appropriations, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is unable to fully staff the land and facilities under its management,” the notices, in part, said.

Amid a stalemate over funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall, funding lapsed at early Saturday for several federal departments.

The Senate and House convened for a rare weekend session on Saturday, but the Senate adjourned, with no further action anticipated until Thursday.

At Red Rock on Saturday, the roads and campgrounds were kept open, but the fee stations and the visitor center were locked.

While most Red Rock visitors celebrated the temporary absence of entrance fees, some spoke of potential issues that might arise regarding both the upkeep and accessibility of bathroom facilities.

“If those bathrooms are locked again, that’s a huge concern,” John Wilder said Saturday morning as he laced up his hiking boots. “They won’t be cleaned and they won’t be maintained, so if this shut down goes on for a long time, that’ll be a problem.”

Wilder, a Las Vegas-based climber, is at Red Rock Canyon at least three times a week. He said his climbing plans were delayed about an hour Saturday morning, as he was unsure at first whether he would be able to use the Scenic Drive loop.

“But other than that (delay), I’m psyched that we can get out here and still recreate,” he said, as his 2-year-old dog, sitting next to him at the Calico Tanks trailhead, wagged his tail.

Nearby at the same trailhead, two more climbers, Kurt Haston and Amber Wagner, stuffed their gear into backpacks, readying themselves for one last day of climbing. The government shutdown had brought their weeklong camping trip to an end, they said.

The pair, who are from Tucson, Arizona, were not immediately worried by the funding stall, but Haston, a backpacking guide at the Grand Canyon, said he needed to go home and figure out whether an upcoming backpacking trip would go on as scheduled.

But he forewarned that if toilet paper is not soon restocked in the restrooms, “then weird stuff is going to go down those toilets.”

“People are going to start using socks or whatever they can,” Haston said. “And that’s hard to clean up.”

Wagner nodded in agreement.

“As climbers our main concern with a shutdown is upkeep. We just wonder how long we’re going to go without people restocking the bathrooms and just keeping up with things and making sure things are monitored,” Wagner said.

“People are pretty disrespectful on a regular basis, let alone when there’s no one around to clean up,” she said.

At the edge of the Calico Tanks parking lot, private tour guide Bill Sterling waited patiently for his tour group to return from taking pictures. He almost always proceeds with his tours during government shutdowns, he said, if some of the park’s restrooms are kept unlocked.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said of the partial shutdown. “It’s just not ideal.”

Similarly, Lake Mead National Recreation Area also was accessible to the public Saturday and will remain so during the shutdown, although National Park Service-provided services are unavailable, including public information, janitorial services, trash collection and facilities and roads maintenance, according to a National Park Service release.

Also remaining open is the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, just north of Las Vegas, stretching along U.S. Highway 95 north of Aliante and Centennial Hills to Creech Air Force Base. The new monument, which does not yet have facilities or parking, will be open during its normal hours from dawn to dusk.

The Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Visitors Gateway on Kyle Canyon Road, however, was closed on Saturday. It is unclear whether it will remain closed during the shutdown.

In October 2013, both Red Rock Canyon and Lake Mead closed down completely, when congressional squabbling over the Affordable Care Act brought the government to a standstill for 16 days. Law enforcement rangers at both parks cleared visitors from the trails and campgrounds and issued citations to 17 people for ignoring the closure order.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.