Mt. Rainier heavy-handed policing

Thanks for posting Jonn; the loudspeakers are truly obnoxious!  I'd expect these sort of incidents to increase as daylight lengthens. The past couple winters, the park has suddenly found enough resources to open longer in April, before most seasonals come on duty.  They don't need more LEOs, they could split the staff into overlapping shifts for longer coverage, as was done for decades before the current policy.

Mount Rainier management seems much better at making excuses for their own frequent lateness than at accepting them from the public.  It's hard to buy the party line of "insufficient resources" when they've added over fifty new year-round positions in the past three years, from 125 FTE to 178 FTE according to news reports.  This outfit thinks how they spend money is none of the public's business; try requesting a copy of the most recent budget and organization chart if you don't believe me..  A staff less than half the size of today's in the 70's & 80's could have plowed circles around the current crowd and there was no consequence to being late except having the gate combo left on your windshield.

I think one could make a pretty strong case that Mount Rainier has been the worst-managed park in the country for the past two decades.  They lead the league in locked gates.  No national park has reduced public access more on 2WD roads formerly open to the public.  No other park has permanently closed a summer (Westside) road to the public, while maintaining it for their own convenience.  Their justification of flooding hazard seems undercut by subsequently building a $2M Emergency Operations Center right next to the river in Longmire.  No other park has completely closed for six months to complete an unnecessary visitor center that was ten times over initial estimates and years behind schedule.  No other park in the country has protected and promoted a superintendent that took a six-figure bribe from a concessioner.

Andrew,
trust me the Nordic Patrol had nothing to do with any timing plot, they were just part of the scene but doing their own thing. They are good people volunteering their ski days, and they do us all a favor by keeping the SARs down by preventing them from happening in the first place.

I wasn't impugning the Nordic Patrol (I know several) nor was I suggesting that they were "in" on a plot.  But I suspect they actually try to follow the rules and regs, i.e., leave on time, drive the speed limit (which is "slowly" for most people) in their gov't vehicle, and get to the get by 5 and otherwise maximiize their time in the bc.  I was suggesting LEOs could use them as a marker for reasonable behavior.  I would, however, suspect the Nordic Patrol could have a key and that they could be given leeway to come out any time the want--who knows?

And I understand well the frustrations of being asked to leave the upper lot well before dark.
And I agreed that the behavior was heavy handed.
And I read that the rules are routinely ignored.
And Vogtski said they are unnecessary and the park is poorly managed.
And Amar said the new LEOs are not as laid back as the old (maybe they are military veterans taught to obey orders).
And I, personally, have loudly and vociferously complained about park acces policy.

But what's a LEO to do if he or she is told to enforce the rules and not incur overtime?

BTW, my initial reaction was why not just leave the gate open 24/7?  But obviously somebody/some committe made a decision based on a number of factors they considered and cast it in stone.

And, BTW, you do realize that Chuck Young, the Chief Ranger retired; someone else is in charge now.

That's quite a conspiracy theory, Andy. Excellent!

"Conspiracy", another word for "management by committee."

Oh, and I'm sure the LEO asking for licenses wan't the new, youngish, tall, female, dark-haired LEO who waved me thru the gate even before it was fully open on Friday and didn't even ask if I had chains--so I rolled down the passenger window to tell her I had chains. Didn't get her name (or phone number). LOL

This is a copy/paste of what I posted on cc.com. We were about 4 minutes behind the OP on Saturday. About 20 cars in front of us and by the time we got out at least 20 behind us. Anyway...

The park is, and has been for a decade now or more, run by <redacted> idiots.

Last night we got to the gate at 5:04 PM. In front of us was a line of 20 cars. An LE was lecturing every driver about the gate closure time. It took more than 20 minutes for us to get to our turn where I was also told they were trying to reduce overtime. Really? By paying an LE overtime to stand there and lecture a line of 50+ cars?

They have not considered (or just don't <bleeping> care) the inevitable outcome of this policy, which is people rushing down the mountain, from the summit, from Muir, and on the road to avoid getting a lecture, their time wasted, and/or a ticket. And that is going to lead to more injuries that suck up their precious OT budget. In our case, we could easily have made it down four minutes faster, if I had passed the three slow-moving cars in front of me on a double-yellow.

Speaking of budget, I have, in the past, looked at their budget. They have plenty of money to extend gate hours on nice days. They just make poor choices on how they spend it. They have been using the lame-ass budget excuse to restrict public access (the guide services are unfettered) for many years now, including the infamous closures a couple years ago. Again, all bs posturing.

Park management have entirely forgotten why they are employed, which is to provide access to the park to its the owners (the general public) while protecting its natural resources. Forcing a long line of cars to idle for 20, 30, 40 minutes so the drivers can be lectured after enjoying the park does neither.

I'm fed up with being treated like shit by them.

...
Park management have entirely forgotten why they are employed, which is to provide access to the park to its the owners (the general public) while protecting its natural resources. Forcing a long line of cars to idle for 20, 30, 40 minutes so the drivers can be lectured after enjoying the park does neither.
...

You are obviously not famiiar with well-known and highly respected (in Italy) Mussolini School of Public Relations!!!

Where do you live, anyway? LMAO