Exploring the underground labyrinths of the National Park System or admiring colorful minerals locked within trees that have turned to rock are most likely impossible during the government shutdown, for while the park system theoretically remains open, not all areas of it are.

Within the nine pages of shutdown rules the Interior Department issued is this sentence: 

"As a general rule, if a facility or area is locked or secured during non-business hours (buildings, gated parking lots, etc.) it should be locked or secured for the duration of the shutdown."

Taken verbatim, that would indicate that the main subterranean attractions of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota, and Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota are closed for the duration of the shutdown. The same would apply to Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona where the entrance gates are locked at night to prevent the loss of petrified tree slices and chunks.

Other parks where main attractions possibly are closed include:

There likely are other parks impacted.

Grounds that surround the structures likely are open, however.

Getting more details from the National Park Service is difficult, at best, as public information staff has been furloughed.

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