Beautiful Places We Can All See Again! Glacier National Park

The govt. shutdown is over, which means it’s time to shut down the political commentary and Jules and I can get back to showcasing the wonderful places where we seek out our adventures! To wrap up this series and celebrate this monumental occasion, we’re kicking it back to the old school, to show you a place that once again we all CAN (and should) see, one of the first National Parks I traveled to in the west with my camera, Glacier National Park. And yes, it’s FILM! Nuff’ said, get outside and enjoy the beautiful day!

Glacier National Park. Photo By Branaman Photography.

Beautiful Places You’re Not Allowed to See~Great Smoky Mountains NP

Govt. Shutodown Day 16,

Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be reopened by a joint effort from Tennessee and North Carolina. Photo by Branaman Photography

As we mentioned yesterday a plan was put forward to reopen Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and it appears that plan is going forward! The Smokies will be open Oct. 16~20! Another temporary opening which is not ideal, but again, a step in the right direction. Speaking of plans, it was just announced that the senate has proposed a plan that may reopen the govt. and our National Parks! It sounds like this may be yet another temporary measure, but fingers are crossed that this will lead to a solution.

Beautiful Places You’re Not Allowed To See~ Your Kids are Missing Out on This…

Junior Ranger badge from Mesa Verde. Photo by Branaman Photography

Shutdown, Day 15

The Junior Ranger Program is offered by most National Parks in the US and is a fantastic way for kids to explore the park through experiential learning and earn a really cool badge (some parks offer badges or certificates) in the process. All you have to do is ask for a Junior Ranger packet at the visitor center of the park you are visiting to get started. The packet includes a variety of activities for a Junior Ranger prospect to complete, everything from “Interview a Ranger” to “Hike a Trail” and document what you find. Each packet is specific to the flora, fauna and environment of that particular park. Once the packet is complete the Junior Ranger is sworn in by a park ranger as an official JR taking an oath to be a good steward and help spread the word about the park. Taking the oath is serious business.

While the program is mainly geared towards kids, I have earned nine badges from across the US myself and have met some fellow Junior Rangers who, like me, aren’t so junior. Which reminds me…Great Smoky Mountains NP offers a “Not-So-Junior Ranger” program for those big kids who might be a little shy to ask for their own packet.

I love how the program helps a prospect focus on the unique qualities of each park, teaching about the specific wildlife, environment and history. But here’s the kicker…this amazing program of experiential education is shutdown along with the parks and it’s a shame! On behalf of your kids, grandkids, students or neighbors let your representative know that this loss is too great to mess with. Along with promoting conservation, I would bet that some of the same kids wearing the Junior Ranger badge today will be the Park Rangers or some other civil servant of tomorrow. Until the Junior Ranger program is up and running again, maybe you can make the most of the govt. shutdown by educating kids about what’s going on, lead by example and stress the importance of getting involved in our govt. process by helping them learn a lesson in citizen politics.

A side note…there are talks to reopen Great Smoky Mountain this week through state and county funding! So all you kids (young and old) cross your fingers that you’ll be able to get out there soon and earn your badges!

Beautiful Places You’re Not Allowed to See ~ American Camp, San Juan Island NHP

Shutdown, Day 14 ~American (Camp) shut down

The numbers are staggering…during this two weeks of our government shutdown and subsequent closure of our national parks, monuments and abandonment of the gateway communities that rely on the NP traffic. The parks have lost $6,300,000 in ticket sales, souvenirs, etc. $6.3 MILLION! Sounds bad enough right? There’s more. The communities large and small, that are dependent upon park visitors as patrons have lost $1,064,000,000! Yes 1 BILLION, 64 MILLION DOLLARS in just 14 days!!!! Take that American economy and you too small businesses! Politicians are holding our Nation’s Parks ransom and have placed a stranglehold on small businesses.

American Camp at San Juan Island National Historic Park in Washington state.                                      Photo by Branaman Photography

Speaking of silly deadlocks, the currently shut down American Camp at San Juan Island National Historic Park (image above) in Washington State came about due to a war that started over a dead pig. In 1859 two camps, one American, the other English, were established on San Juan Island in response to the shooting of a pig rooting in the wrong potato patch sparking a border dispute, thus beginning the Pig War. The camps were occupied for 12 years but within that time not one round was fired and no one was hurt, save for the pig. While a diplomatic nightmare for the two govt.’s, the people there on both sides got along peaceably and actually hosted parties and picnics in which all would attend. The take away ~ a war starting over a dead pig seems silly, financially frivolous and hard to believe it took 12 yrs. to sort out, but with today’s govt. gridlock it sounds all too familiar. Realizing what is important and not getting caught up by small impasses, now that is something our country could use a bit more of.

Beautiful Places You’re Not Allowed to See~ Rocky Mtn. Nat’l Park

Shutdown Day 13…

Sunset, Bear Lake, Rocky Mtn. Nat’l Park. Photo by Branaman Photography

To end the week on a high note, we’re posting an image from another freshly reopened national park, this time in Colorado. We spent 2 weeks living in the artist-in-residence cabin at Moraine Park in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2012 and it has a dear place in out hearts. Not only is it one of the most amazing places we’ve ever seen, it’s faced some amazing challenges over the last couple years. Forest fires ravaged the state in 2012 and continued through 2013, and unfortunately, this appears to be the new normal for the West in general. Earlier this year Rocky Mt. NP and the surrounding areas received the other side of the weather sword, torrential downpours and flood damage summed up as one of those  “once in a 100 yr. events” that seem to happen more and more often these days. Just when it seemed it couldn’t get much worse, an “unnatural” disaster (the govt. shutdown) dealt another hard blow to this still reeling community. Some have estimated the costs to be around $4.8 million and there are even morelong term effects summed up well in this article from the Daily Camera. Some of those park workers that were furloughed are the same people that lost their homes to flooding in the months before and to wildfires before that….. but I said we were ending on a high note, right?
Today we revel in the small victory that Rocky is open thanks to the state of Colorado footing the bill, and people will be able to enjoy it’s majestic beauty again. Our heart-felt well-wishes go out to everyone there as they make the most of this situation….. and tomorrow we get back to applying the pressure to end this govt. shutdown!

Beautiful Places You Aren’t Allowed to See~ Grand Canyon NP

Shutdown, Day 12… Beautiful Places You Aren’t Allowed to See (as of today)~ Grand Canyon National Park Happy to say today’s post will actually be a beautiful place you ARE allowed to see. The Grand Canyon will be open today! …

Beautiful Places You’re Not Allowed to See ~ Mt. St. Helens NVM

Steam and ash cloud drifts from Mt. St. Helens shortly after a small eruption in 2004.
Photo by Branaman Photography

As we enter our 11th day of the govt. shutdown and our continued series on National Parks that have been affected, I realized that almost 10 yrs. ago I was covering a story about an NPS closure of a different kind. At the time, most of Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was closed and some people were a little upset, but there was a pretty good reason. Mt. St. Helens was sending steam and ash thousands of feet into the air and there were earthquakes causing thousands of rockslides as the volcano returned to life and was threatening to blow it’s top.
Now THAT is a good reason to close a park. But I guess they just don’t make shutdowns like they used to.
Our current shutdown isn’t threatening to blow apart a mountain (and in the silver linings dept., the climbing route on Mt. St. Helens is actually open during this one) but it is still a threat to many peoples lives in a different sense. And it seems some of them are about to blow their tops.
“Occupy” movements have popped up in Zion, Yosemite and Yellowstone along with other protests openly challenging the closures, and Utah threatened to takeover their National Park areas by force if necessary!
Thankfully, the Utah situation has been diffused as it was just announced that they’ve now received approval to open them but will have to use state funds to do so. Florida on the other hand has seen it’s protests by fishing & recreational guides answered with a resounding no from Gov. Rick Scott on the possibility of using state funds to open Nat’l parks and the waters of Florida Bay.
And I have to mention the WWII vets who (with the help of some representatives) “stormed” the WWII memorial in DC shortly after these shenanigans began and you gotta love the random guy who was mowing the grass at the Lincoln Memorial that was told to stop.

Although all of these get kudos for creativity and flair, I still say contact your representatives and speak your mind.

For more info, NPR has a nice recap of “How the Shutdown Feels Across America” and they’ve got another great addition to the silver lining dept. as they report on how the situation has actually been good for some Native American Tribes that offer alternative views of the Grand Canyon for those who planned to go to the National parks and have been shut out. Good for them!

Beautiful Places You’re Not Allowed to See ~ Dry Tortugas NP

Fort Jefferson rises up from the turqouise water of the Gulf of Mexico at Dry Tortugas National Park.         Photo by Branaman Photography

Shutdown, Day 10

Most people think of Key West as the end of the world as far as Florida goes, but 70 miles due west, of Key West, is Fort Jefferson and Dry Tortugas National Park where emerald and turquoise waters teem with fish big and small. It’s usually only accessible by boat or seaplane, but thanks to the govt. shutdown, it’s not accessible at all.
Jules and I were once dropped off here with our tent and supplies and were the only campers on the island! Other than a few rangers and researchers in nearby Fort Jefferson, it was just us, on our own island paradise. It doesn’t get much better than that. But now there are no campers or day-trippers, Dry Tortugas has gone from an amazing desert island, to simply an island deserted.

Beautiful Places You’re Not Allowed to See~Death Valley NP

                    A coyote pauses while walking along California State Route 190 in Death Valley.                                     Photo by Branaman Photography

 

 

Shutdown, Day 9~

Today we’ll keep it short & sweet with a little silver lining. Death Vally National Park is closed, but you can technically “see” it. The main thoroughfare is a CA highway, not under NPS control, so you can drive THROUGH Death Valley, just no stopping to explore it’s dunes and other NPS controlled attractions. Furnace Creek features privately run facilities surrounded by the park so their “in-holding” status allows them to remain open offering lodging, restaurants, pools, retail, tennis and believe it or not, even a golf course in the middle of the desert. Not exactly my cup o’ tea, but hey, we’ll take all the silver linings we can get at this point.

Beautiful Places You’re Not Allowed to See~ Dream Lake (Rocky Mt. NP)

Trail to Dream Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO.

Shutdown~ Day 8

At this point it all seems like a dream. A really bad one.

We’ve mentioned how National Parks and small businesses near them are suffering (Check out this counter that estimates how much $ is being lost every second from gateway communities while the govt. is shut down). But it goes beyond our national parks and the jobs related to them.

Nearly 9 million low-income mothers and their children are at risk as WIC is running out of money

Kids with cancer are denied clinical trials

The families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan aren’t receiving their Death Benefits. 

Yet when I tried to contact one of my senators, who IS getting paid during this shutdown* I got the following response…

“Thank you for taking the time to contact me, please be advised due to the government shutdown, my office is currently closed. My office will respond to your concerns or resume work on your case as soon as the office reopens….”

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator_whose name I won’t mention but it rhymes with “Darco Dubio”

We usually avoid political discussion on our blog, but this is beyond reason, so I’m urging people to contact their representatives and tell them to vote now on the “clean” budget and put an end to this. If you don’t agree with a law that was passed in 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court of the U.S., protest it through other channels, don’t do it by hurting your country and the economy. Hopefully this nightmare will end soon and we can get off our soapbox and just share pretty pictures again 😉

….and if you happen to run into Sen. Dubio, ask him to return my message, I’d love to chat with him.

*Many Senators are refusing their pay or donating it to charity during the govt. shutdown, on the two lists I found (List 1, List 2) Dubio is not one of them. Let me know if you find out otherwise.