Despite the lack of an agreement in Congress to fund federal operations past the end of September, Acadia National Park remained mostly open on Wednesday.
The park’s visitor center in the Bar Harbor village of Hulls Cove was closed, forcing visitors to turn around and walk back down the long series of stairs to the parking lot without being able to ask park staff questions or use a restroom. But the Island Explorer bus system, which is operated by the nonprofit organization Downeast Transportation, and local bicycle rental companies that transport customers and their bicycles into the park were coming and going from the parking lot as usual.
The Park Loop Road was open, allowing visitors to visit popular sites such as Cadillac Mountain, Sand Beach and Thunder Hole. The newly opened Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton, which is owned and operated by the state, also was open, though no park staff was on site.
Rangers were manning the booth at the bottom of Cadillac Mountain’s Summit Road and were making sure visitors had required reservations before driving to the top. A ranger in one of the booths said the park was still managing the reservation system to the top of the mountain because it could create a public safety issue if vehicles flooded the road and parking lots at the top.
The ranger declined to comment on other operations in Acadia, and other information was hard to come by Wednesday morning.
A dispatcher at the park’s ranger office forwarded inquiries to a park spokesperson, but that spokesperson did not respond to a voicemail or text requests for information about how the shutdown is affecting the park.
Phone calls went unanswered to the Jordan Pond House Restaurant and gift shop.
A couple who was leaving Acadia Wednesday morning to head back home — which they had been scheduled to do regardless of the debate in Congress — said it was a shame that the park’s operations would be affected at all by politics.
Jonathon and Mary Benjamin had spent the past few days camping in Acadia at Blackwoods Campground on Mount Desert Island. They live in the Hudson Valley of New York and are frequent visitors of National Park Service sites.
“It’s frustrating because I think these parks are for everyone. People plan these trips in advance,” Jonathon Benjamin said.
“It also helps the local businesses,” Mary Benjamin said, adding that local residents whose income relies on tourism get hurt more than tourists who might have to cancel or alter their plans.
“It’s almost fall peak season, which I’m sure brings a lot of people up,” Jonathon Benjamin said. “Bar Harbor and some surrounding areas will be fine, but it’s just tough. This is just one of many parks being affected.”
The situation in Acadia Wednesday morning contrasts with the most recent October federal government shutdown. October, the first month of the federal fiscal year, typically is one of the busiest months in Acadia, with the month getting more than half a million visits every year since 2020.
In October 2013, Acadia shut down for 16 days during a similar budgetary impasse in Congress. During that closure, gates allowing vehicle access into the park were closed and locked and digital display signs were deployed telling visitors the park was closed.
Other federal shutdowns have occurred between then and now, but those occurred in winter months, when many facilities at Acadia close for the winter anyway and visitation to Acadia drops far below the crowds it gets in summer and fall.
