A vehicle evaded a closure barrier at Big Bend National Park on Dec 29, 2018/NPS

Editor's note: This updates with closures at Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park.

Temptation can be a powerful motivator, and for some Big Bend National Park visitors it cost them three drones that were confiscated after they drove around a barrier to keep visitors out of a section of the park closed during the government shutdown. In Joshua Tree National Park, officials said illegal off-road driving caused unspecified damage to the park's natural resources. As each day passes, more and more parks are being overwhelmed by human waste and garbage and other problems caused by maintenance crews being furloughed.

Weather also was complicating things. Some parks closed roads because they were snow-covered, at Sequoia National Park in California a portion of the Generals Highway was closed due to traffic accidents and icy conditions.

At Big Bend, hidden cameras and sensors caught five four-wheel drive vehicles that went around barriers to head into an area that had been closed. Law enforcement rangers were able to track them down. While no citations were immediately issued, the drones one group had were confiscated, and an investigation is ongoing to determine whether any serious resource damage was done by the group. If there was, citations and fines could eventually be issued.

While Interior Department officials might have thought it noble to keep the parks open with very, very limited Park Service resources, the behavior of some, the risks others are exposed to, and the diminished visitor experience just don't make it worth it.

A short list of parks that have closed some facilities and campgrounds due to human waste and garbage that can't be hauled away because maintenance crews have been furloughed includes Shenandoah, Yosemite, Big Bend, and Joshua Tree. Other parks are closing access because of snowfall that won't be plowed away until the shutdown ends. At Yosemite National Park, where campgrounds and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias have been closed, staff urged visitors to delay their trips to the park until after the holidays pass. A cartoon making the rounds on social media suggests pit stops before visitors pass into parks. That message was being parroted by Sequoia and Kings Canyon staff.

"Restrooms are available in communities outside Sequoia and Kings Canyon, and limited restrooms in deteriorating conditions inside the parks," the staff tweeted Monday afternoon. "Please use bear-proof trash cans or pack your trash out. Please do not add trash to a full trash can or Dumpster."

Sequoia staff Monday night also closed the Generals Highway at Hospital Rock through Giant Forest and Lodgepole and through to Lost Grove, and shut down Wuksachi Lodge.

"The closure includes concession facilities at these locations, including Wuksachi Lodge and other concession and partner operations. Trash receptacles are overflowing, resulting in litter dispersal throughout the area and a threat to wildlife," the staff said in a press release. "Vehicular congestion, motor vehicle accidents, and icy roadways have led to up to three-hour delays on the Generals Highway."

At neighboring Kings Canyon National Park, closures included the road to the General Grant Tree, Big Stump Picnic Area, and Azalea Campground. "The Grant Tree Trail, normally minimally maintained by sanding, has become extraordinarily slick, the ice and snow has become compressed and glazed due to heavy traffic, causing multiple falls and at least one injury," staff said. "The Grant Village will remain open, as will Highway 180 for through traffic to Princess Campground and Montecito Sequoia Lodge."

The closures at Sequoia and Kings Canyon were expected to remain in place for the duration of the shutdown, staff said.

At Canyonlands National Park in Utah, heavy snowfall Monday led to the closure of the park road at the Island in the Sky Visitor Center. "It is unknown when the road will open," a park tweet read. "Access to the park will not occur until conditions improve or the National Park Service receives funding to maintain the roads."

Next door at Arches National Park, the entrance road was closed by snowfall and wasn't expected to reopen until either the shutdown ends or the snow and ice melts.

At Joshua Tree, where overnight camping is scheduled to end at noon Wednesday due to health and safety concerns, staff also closed the Lost Horse Mine Road due to unspecified illegal activity. "Rattlesnake Canyon is closed to reduce the number of searches and rescues," the park added in a tweet.

Efforts by phone and email to track down park personnel who could describe the resource damage and illegal activity were fruitless. Not without irony, park staff who tweeted about problems or issued press releases also tweeted that they "are currently not able to monitor our social media platforms and will not respond to questions." 

The scant ranger personnel on the job is creating dangerous situations for visitors, as one backpacker at Big Bend discovered. The 26-year-old slipped and broke his leg in Santa Elena Canyon on Christmas Eve, before the park closed that section. With most park employees on furlough, Joshua Snider luckily was found by a family of four that helped carry him a ways until they encountered a ranger working on an unpaid basis due to the shutdown. The ranger carried Snider on his back for about two hours to the parking area where his car was. Snider and his backpacking friend then drove to the Big Bend Regional Medical Center in Alpine, Texas, and on December 26 he flew to New York City for surgery on his leg.

"If there wasn't a shutdown, I probably would've been able to get out in a more efficient way," Snider told Newsday.com. "But it also showed me, especially with this park ranger working unpaid, it showed me the dedication that some people have for their jobs and have for the greater good of society. It shows a beautiful part of humanity that you don't see every day."

With no end to the shutdown in sight, we can only wonder how many other backcountry travelers might find themselves injured or lost with no immediate rescue in sight, how many other campgrounds and restrooms will close because sewer and vault systems aren't being maintained and are leading to health and safety issues, and how many scofflaws will take advantage of the lack of ranger presence to go where they shouldn't and damage park resources in the process.

Too, campgrounds aren't been properly managed. The recreation.gov website informs users that any reservation they make might not be honored during the shutdown. "If you do make a reservation for the near future and the lapse in funding is not resolved by your arrival date, your reservation may not be honored or others may have occupied your site," a message on the site states. "Please consider this when making new reservations. Please check with local facilities as they may be open for business and welcoming new reservations."

The desire by politicians to keep the parks open, without proper Park Service presence, for economic benefits is shortsighted. More so when you realize that no one is collecting entrance fees at the parks themselves.

As one Traveler reader commented, "Certain activities are allowed to continue, which is why law enforcement staff and emergency services staff, and those who must keep utility systems working, are still on-duty with no certainty of back pay. But there is no clear exemption under the Antideficiency Act for trash collection and road maintenance. Personally, I think that both this administration as well as the Obama administration stretched the exemption to the screaming point in order to reduce the amount of political blowback over the shutdown. Maybe if real impacts were experienced we'd be less likely to have one."

The government shutdown has created a class of haves and have nots in the park system. The haves, such as Zion National Park in Utah, Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina, and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, have had either states or non-governmental organizations step up with tens of thousands of dollars to provide some measure of visitor services. Unfortunately, these groups are not likely to be repaid by the federal government (the states that paid to keep national parks open during the October 2013 shutdown never were reimbursed). Organizations such as the Great Smoky Mountains Association very likely could have used the financial resources it committed to visitor services more beneficially. The have nots -- the majority of parks -- watched as toilet systems and garbage overwhelmed campgrounds, and as snow closed roads.

Park superintendents were told Monday that Interior Department officials supported decisions being made to close areas when necessary to prevent resource damage. It would have been better had Interior realized the foolishness of keeping parks open with limited personnel in the first place.