Illegal BASE jumpers, squatters takeover Yosemite amid government shutdown

Yosemite National Park has reportedly descended into chaos since the Oct. 1 government shutdown, with increasing reports of illegal BASE jumping from El Capitan, squatters filling up campgrounds and climbers using the Half Dome cables without permits, according to multiple media reports.  

It’s unclear exactly how many federal employees are working in the park, though according to the San Francisco Chronicle, most Yosemite staff have been furloughed since the beginning of the month.  

One park employee who spoke to SFGATE on the condition of anonymity to protect their job said that they were only aware of a single volunteer patrolling the entire park.  

BASE jumping, the extreme sport of parachuting off fixed structures, like the park’s granite monoliths, was pioneered in Yosemite during the 1970s and outlawed in the ‘80s.  

“You hear them before you see them,” Charles Winstead, who witnessed a dozen illegal BASE jumps in the park last week, told the Chronicle. “Then the parachute pops and there’s no more noise.” 

Winstead posted footage of one BASE jumper on Instagram, saying it was the second group of jumpers he’d seen that day.  

“Definitely feeling some freedom to flout the rules,” he wrote.  

Despite its prohibition, practitioners of the dangerous sport have continued to jump, often first thing in the morning or at dusk in hopes of getting away before rangers can respond, but some say this is not that same as that.  

John DeGrazio, founder of the tour company YExplore Yosemite Adventures, told the SFGATE that since the government shutdown, it’s been like “the Wild, Wild West.”  

“This is different. These people are counting on no enforcement because of the shutdown,” he said.  

Other posts to social media show a long line of climbers backed up on the Half Dome cables, a fairly common scene until around 2010 when the permit system was initiated. The problem with that, according to some climbers, is that people breaking the rules pose a danger because others may be forced to rescue them or recover their bodies in the event of an accident.  

Then there’s the squatters taking over the campgrounds, even reserved campsites they claimed were “first come, first serve.” 

“There are lots of squatters in the campgrounds,” the park employee told SFGATE. There are lots of people that truly believe they can do whatever they want because of the lack of rangers. They’ve told us.”