I visited a national park during the government shutdown. I found closed visitor centers and tourists looking for maps.

• Many national parks are open during the government shutdown, but with limited services.
• My visit to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks was great but required extra planning ahead.
• Visitor centers were closed but there were still plenty of tourists at the parks.

The federal government is shut down, but that's not stopping tourists from visiting America's national parks.

I visited two national parks over the weekend, more than two weeks after the shutdown began: Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park, which are adjacent to each other and located in central California, about a 4.5 hour drive from Los Angeles in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Since the shutdown began on October 1, there's been a lot of confusion about what that means for the national parks and what visitors can expect to find when they go.

The National Park Service has said parks will remain as accessible as possible during the shutdown, though the situation varies from park to park and most are running on limited crews to handle basic services, like bathroom maintenance and trash disposal.

Both parks were open, had plenty of visitors, and were as gorgeous as they always are, but it wasn't business as usual. With fewer services available, planning ahead before the trip was more important than ever, and I took extra care to prepare before I went.

No entrance fees and closed visitor centers

Sequoia and Kings Canyon are technically two different parks, though in many ways they function as one — a single $35-per-vehicle entrance fee gets you into both. That is, when entrance fees are being collected.

When I approached the entrance gates on Friday afternoon, there was no one on duty. In place of an attendant passing out maps and collecting fees — 80% of which go toward maintaining and improving park facilities and services — there was a sign about the shutdown.

"During this lapse in appropriations, national parks will remain as accessible as possible," the sign said. "We are doing our best to take care of your parks at this time, but some amenities and services may not be available."

That was the first sign things were not normal.

When I tried to stop by the Kings Canyon Visitor Center, it was closed, as were the other visitor centers that are typically open this time of year. The same sign about the lapse of appropriations was posted outside the entrance.

Visitor centers are often a first stop for park-goers. Rangers are usually available to hand out maps and other informational materials, answer questions about weather and trail conditions, and recommend hikes that are appropriate for the group's fitness levels.

I saw some tourists peering through the visitor center windows and scanning the large map that was hung up in the window. When another person from the group approached and asked if they were able to find a map they could take with them, one replied, "They're in visual distance, but denied!"

The closed visitor center also meant that tourists hoping to get their "National Park Passport" stamped were out of luck.

Trails, bathrooms, markets, and restaurants were open

While many buildings run by the NPS were closed, bathrooms at many locations were still open and being maintained. Buildings run by concessionaires, or private companies that work in partnership with the parks, were also open.

At Grant Grove, across from the Kings Canyon Visitor Center, a market, gift shop, and restaurant were open and serving tourists. Same with the market, restaurant, showers, and laundromat at the Lodgepole area of Sequoia.

Many, if not most, of the popular trails were also open, including for the parks' most famous trees, General Sherman and General Grant, and the Moro Rock Trail.

Some campgrounds were also open. The bathrooms at Sentinel Campground, where I stayed, were maintained with plenty of toilet paper and as clean as can typically be expected. The potable water at the campground also appeared to still be available.

In fact, if a tourist had planned their trip in advance and did not try to stop by a visitor center, they might not have realized anything was out of the ordinary.

I did see plenty of people breaking park rules — walking off trail or bringing their dogs on trails where pets weren't allowed — but I'm not sure visitors were misbehaving any more than they usually do at national parks.

Downloading online resources and planning ahead were key

I had visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon before but knew the visitor centers would be closed, so I planned ahead even more than I usually would.

There's almost no cell service in the parks, so before I left I downloaded an entire map of the area on Google Maps, as well as the official NPS map of the parks. I researched which sites we wanted to visit and downloaded trails on the AllTrails hiking app.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that online resources for the national parks were still very useful during the shutdown. The real-time weather forecast for various areas of the parks are still being updated on the park service website, so I was able to plan accordingly and feel pretty confident about the conditions we would find in the park.

I was feeling some uncertainty over which campgrounds might be open, so I used Recreation.gov, the federal government website for outdoor reservations that is still running during the shutdown, to book a site in advance. I was able to grab a spot just one day before my trip.

Being a self-reliant and responsible visitor

It's difficult to be certain about what you might find when visiting a national park during a government shutdown.

It's safest to be self-reliant by taking extra care to plan and bring anything you might need with you. I packed extra toilet paper and brought my own water.

It's also more important than ever to follow park rules and minimize your impact on the natural environment.

Park advocates like the National Park Conservation Association urge the government to close national parks during shutdowns out of concern for the park itself and visitor safety.

During the federal government shutdown in 2019, some parks were vandalized and their landscapes damaged. Issues with human waste and trash got so bad at Sequoia and Kings Canyon that the parks were forced to close, according to NPCA.

"Some parks are open. Some parks are closed. More than 60% of national park staff are on furlough," Kyle Groetzinger, an NPCA spokesperson, told me earlier this month. "The shutdown is leaving national parks without the experts needed to protect fragile ecosystems, interpret American history, and serve the public."

Overall, as an experienced national park visitor and camper, I felt comfortable visiting during the shutdown.

As for first-time visitors, it might be better to wait until the shutdown ends and the parks are operating at full force. At the very least, I recommend doing a lot of research in advance and learning about Leave No Trace principles to protect yourself as well as the parks.

Do you have a story to share about the national parks? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@businessinsider.com.