Death Valley Closed for Weeks, Crack in Yosemite, Hiker Found by Webcam, and More | National Park News

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It brought the rainiest day ever recorded in Death Valley history on August 20, dumping more rain than the park normally sees in an entire year. All roads in the park were damaged and are closed until further notice. Flash flooding eroded material under the roads, leaving unsupported pavement and drop-offs in many places. Flooding also deposited dirt and rocks up to 5 feet deep on roads. CalTrans and contractors are working on California 190 but do not have an estimated opening date.

National Park Service crews are working to remove debris and fill in shoulders on other paved roads within the park. The Park service, working through the Federal Highway Administration, will hire contractors for repaving and other major road repair items. Park officials say the park will likely reopen in stages. It may be weeks before Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells open. secondary roads in the park may take months to open.

It's an enormous undertaking and staff from parks around the country have been sent to help, but it's going to take some time. Death Valley National Park is larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware, with over 1,400 miles of roads. A sudden 200-foot crack has emerged near Yosemite's Royal Arches cliff, which led to immediate climbing even when it was growing, climbers named it supernatural. However, park officials have since closed the area for safety concerns.

The crack's appearance was so sudden that a guide from Yosemite Mountain School reported seeing it on August 6th, but by August 20th, it was visible. The National Park Service has temporarily closed several areas, including parts of the Owani hotel parking and the Royal Arches Creek, due to the risk of rockfall. The crack is actively making noises similar to a cracking frozen lake, with rocks tumbling down without any external touch. As of recent updates, the crack has expanded by 12 feet and has widened significantly. Rockfalls are not uncommon in Yosemite, with over 1,000 significant incidents recorded in the last 150 years.

Yosemite scientists are actively monitoring the situation using advanced tools like high-resolution photography and laser mapping.

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Thankfully, he was unharmed. The Dumpling Mountain live stream, operated by Explore..org, is not as popular as other cameras in the park. Especially those focused on brooks falls during the salmon spawning season and those fat bears. But it offers breathtaking views of the alpine Tundra and some of Katmai's active volcanoes. The camera's location is about two miles from the nearest trail, known for its challenging terrain. Poor weather conditions in the area, including dense fog, can disorient hikers. The circumstances leading the hiker to the remote camera remain uncertain.

While the camera's equipment might be noticeable due to solar panels and wind turbines, it's not particularly large. This incident marks a first for the park's live stream, although other wildlife streams have captured emergencies in the past. The U.S Department of the Interior has announced that. Visitor spending in communities near national parks in 2022 resulted in a record-high $50.3 billion benefit to the nation's economy and supported 378,400 jobs. Nearly 312 million visitors spent $23.9 billion in communities within 60 miles of a national park.

Of the some 378,000 jobs supported by visitor spending, 314,000 were in park gateway communities. Annual appropriations for the National Park Service totaled $3.3 billion in fiscal year 2022. Effectively turning a $1 investment in national parks into more than a $10 boost to the nation's economy. The latest report is informed by new socioeconomic monitoring survey data, which is said to greatly increase the accuracy of these spending estimates for each park and helps the National Park Service learn more about park visitors. This advanced monitoring also delivers a more accurate estimate of the economic contributions of parks to communities. Did you know that it's illegal for commercial vehicles to travel on certain roads operated by the National Park Service?

And not just roads that travel through parks. The Park Service manages big, multi-state routes like the Blue Ridge Parkway, which bans all vehicles with commercial markings on them. A caravan of carnival workers found this out the hard way outside of Matheson, Mississippi, on the Natchez Trace parkway, where park rangers pulled them over after being tipped off by a concerned local motorist. The company responsible faces numerous citations and fines. All commercial vehicles are prohibited on the Natchez Trace, whether you're following your GPS or not.

If you happen upon commercial vehicles while traveling the parkway, the Park Service asks that you call 1-800-300-Park to report it. Finally, seasonal park ranger Don Frankfort is retiring after working 55 summers at Wind Cave National Park. He began his ranger career in 1967, and since then, he estimates he led more than 100,000 people through the cave. His life changed from a chance encounter with a park ranger at Carlsbad Caverns when he was on a family trip in 1962. His mother happened to ask a park ranger about his job, and the ranger replied that he was a seasonal employee.

Years later, when he was looking for a summer job, Frankfort remembered that encounter and that the National Park Service hired summer workers. Having grown up in New York City, he wanted to experience a classic Western National Park with mountains, waterfalls and open spaces. He applied to 10 parks, but the only response he received was a telegram from the superintendent at Wind Cave National Park offering him a job. For the summer of 1967, he planned to stay a year, one summer, turned into two, then three, and eventually he'd meet his wife, Kim, a fellow ranger. And it later turned into a family affair when his son Sam, and future daughter-in-law April also worked as seasonal employees at the park.

But after 55 summers and reaching his 78th birthday, he decided it was time to retire. Happy retirement, Don. That's it for this month's National Park news roundup. Please take a moment to subscribe and thanks for being here and we'll see you next time. Bye everybody.