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6 Oct, 2013

U.S. Gov’t shutdown leaves some tourists stranded near Yellowstone – Yahoo News

About 15 tourists are staying in Cooke City, one of several tiny gateway towns leading into Yellowstone National Park. Hopefully, they are enjoying their visit in the scenic area. That’s because thanks to the ongoing federal government shutdown, the tourists are literally trapped inside Cooke City.

“We’re trapped,” Bill Anderson, 70, told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. “It’s nuts.”

Heavy snowfall has blocked the main road leading out of Cooke City. And an alternate route is only accessible by locals who are able to purchase a pass granting them permission to navigate the tricky terrain.

The only way for a tourist to gain access to the road is through a medical emergency.

On Tuesday, tourists were instructed to leave Yellowstone as the government shutdown went into effect. Visitors who were camping or staying in hotels on federal government land were given 48 hours to leave or make accommodations elsewhere, as the nation’s 84 million acres of federal parkland were shuttered for the foreseeable future.

Read the rest: Government shutdown leaves some tourists stranded near Yellowstone – Yahoo News.