Squatters, BASE Jumpers Flood Yosemite During Shutdown, No Chaos At Yellowstone

During the government shutdown, Yosemite National Park has been invaded by squatters and adrenaline junkies, illegally parachuting off El Capitan. Tour guides told Cowboy State Daily that Grand Teton and Yellowstone haven’t slid into chaos.

MH
Mark Heinz

October 11, 20255 min read

During the government shutdown, Yosemite National Park has been invaded by squatters and adrenaline junkies, illegally parachuting off El Capitan. Tour guides told Cowboy State Daily that Grand Teton and Yellowstone haven’t slid into chaos.
During the government shutdown, Yosemite National Park has been invaded by squatters and adrenaline junkies, illegally parachuting off El Capitan. Tour guides told Cowboy State Daily that Grand Teton and Yellowstone haven’t slid into chaos. (Getty Images)

As the federal government shutdown drags on, people have poured into Yosemite National Park in California, many of them taking advantage of the absence of park rangers to engage in illegal activities. 

There have been squatters in campgrounds, people crowding hiking trails without permits, and adrenaline junkies BASE jumping off the iconic 3,000-foot El Capitan cliff face, SFGATE reported.

BASE is an acronym for jumping with a parachute from buildings, antennae, spans (bridges) and earth (natural formations). It’s forbidden in Yosemite.

‘Holding Our Breath’

Yosemite local Beth Pratt, who worked in Yellowstone National Park from 2008 to 2011, told Cowboy State Daily that she and others there are “holding our breath,” hoping that nobody gets killed or seriously injured. 

“Yeah, people are taking advantage (of the shutdown). And for me, that’s taking advantage of the resources. And ignoring human and wildlife safety,” said Pratt, who lives near the southwest entrance to Yosemite. 

Pratt serves as the California Regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation. 

View post on Instagram
 

Widespread Concerns For Parks

The federal government shutdown took effect on Oct. 1, putting many National Park Service (NPS) personnel on furlough.

Nationwide, that’s caused concerns about conditions in national parks, Kati Schmidt, spokeswoman for National Parks Conservation Association, stated in an email to Cowboy State Daily.

“As we head into this long weekend, many parks still in ideal weather conditions for visitation, we worry that we will soon start hearing more of those stories,” Schmidt wrote. 

“I see that the weather report looks spring-like today in Jackson (Wyoming), with snow potentially falling before the end of the weekend – that alone could cause more incidents,” she added.

She’s troubled by the situation in Yosemite. 

“I saw news this morning about Yosemite seeing illegal BASE jumpers off El Capitan, people illegally flying drones in the park and hiking trails like Half Dome without permits,” Schmidt wrote.

In Grand Teton and Yellowstone, Grizzly bears are in a state hyperphagia, or gorging to pack on fat for winter hibernation, and elk are in the rut, or mating season. 

That raises the potential for human-wildlife conflict, Schmidt added.

Things Look Good In Grand Teton, Yellowstone

Grand Teton and Yellowstone haven’t slid into chaos, some tour guides told Cowboy State Daily.

“Gosh, for the most part, it seems to be business as usual,” said Taylor Phillips, owner of Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures.

In Grand Teton, “it seems like visitors and locals alike are respecting the resource. We’re not seeing a lot of violations, or trash, or people behaving inappropriately,” he said.

Things are going well in Yellowstone, said Mike Skelton, owner of Yellowstone Wonders LLC.

“People are behaving themselves. I haven’t seen any ill effects (from the shutdown). Nobody is harassing the wildlife, traffic is flowing, and the bathrooms look good,” he said.

He added that some essential staff, such as law enforcement rangers and search and rescue personnel, are still on standby.

Skelton recalled another government shutdown, in the winter of 2018, that dragged on for more than a month. 

That time, some bathrooms in the park started to get filthy. So, tour guides and locals from Gardiner, Montana took it upon themselves to clean and resupply the bathrooms “on our own dime,” he said. 

Not A No-Man’s Land

Keeping some essential staff on during shutdown is standard procedure, retired park ranger Greg Jackson told Cowboy State Daily.

Essential staff might include a few law enforcement rangers, paramedics and the like, he said.

“It’s like Christmas. It’s like a federal holiday, when most of the employees are not working, said Jackson, the former deputy chief of the National Park Service division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services. He now runs NPS Park Ranger News. 

“It’s not a no-man’s land, or a free-for-all,” he added. 

Jackson used to work in Yosemite and said that closing park because some people are taking advantage of the shutdown would be impractical. 

One of the main roads though the park is also a local highway, he said. 

“It’s a road that people commute to and from work on. How are you going to shut that down?” he said. 

Damage Might Become Apparent Later

Pratt was recently in Yosemite. The park was somewhat more crowded than usual this time of year, because nobody is manning the gates and people can come and go for free, she said.

For the most part, things looked normal from the roads, the most egregious offenses must be happening in remote places, she added. 

She said her biggest concern is people crowding hiking trails, or dangerous natural features such as the Half Dome, without rangers’ supervision.

“If more people are out there backpacking because nobody’s checking trail permits, that increases the likelihood of somebody getting hurt, when nobody is there to help,” she said.

Long-term damage to the park might not become apparent until personnel return after the shutdown and start checking remote areas, Pratt said. 

“Is a person going to die, is a bear going to get killed, is a beautiful meadow going to get ruined forever?” she said. 

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.

Authors

MH

Mark Heinz

Outdoors Reporter