Interesting... I was under the impression that when the gate at Longmire is closed, you are not supposed to access the terrain typically accessed from Paradise. At least, that was the case during the gov't shutdown a few falls ago
No, that's not true at all. Let me try to clarify.
During the government shutdown, all national parks (and many other federal lands and facilities) were closed to all public entry. You were not allowed to (legally) set foot within any part of any national park during that shutdown, with a few minor exceptions. Such as driving along state and US highways that happen to pass through national parks was permitted, e.g. US 101 through Olympic NP and SR 410 through MRNP, but you were not legally allowed to exit your vehicle and walk around. People were actually hassled by law enforcement and even ticketed in Olympic NP for doing just that along US 101 during the shutdown, there were articles in the newspapers about that absurd situation and it was on the TV news too.
So that has nothing to do with accessing the (otherwise fully and completely open) Mount Rainier National Park during the daily gate closure periods. A sign on the Longmire gate does, however, state that hiking or skiing or other travel along the closed road is not permitted, for obvious public safety reasons during plowing operations. But you may freely access Paradise, and any other location in the park, from Longmire via any other route, or from any other park entrance via any route. (Obviously such access may be difficult or impractical at most times by most routes, however.)
