ABC News reports that because of the government shutdown, visiting the Grand Canyon will have to wait. Employees of Grand Canyon National Park have four hours on Tuesday to grab their files and their property before they stop reporting for work. Law enforcement personnel and security and health personnel will have four days to shut down. But visitors who are already there hiking, camping or rafting on the Colorado River can complete their trips, and helicopter tours will not be halted. Personnel will turn back visitors at entrance gates, and other officials will cordon off overlooks.
Typically, 18,000 people visit the Grand Canyon every day in October. Across the nation last October, roughly 715,000 people a day visited areas within the national park system, which enriched the coffers of local economies by $76 million a day, according to National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst.
The 1,500 people who live in the Grand Canyon will still have access to water treatment and sewer facilities, and will be free to come and go.
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