GARDINER — As federal employees faced furloughs amid congressional loggerheads over the federal budget , Yellowstone National Park employees, visitors and local businesses navigated a series of uncertainties about operations at the destination that drew more than 4.7 million visitors last year.

Some visitors Montana Free Press spoke with Wednesday near the park’s only year-round entrance were largely unaware that the federal government shutdown had impacted Park Service operations. Others made last-minute travel changes in anticipation of closed entrances thwarting years-long dreams of visiting Yellowstone, or encountered visitor centers that had been bolted shut.

John Berku, who was visiting Yellowstone from Israel as part of a larger tour of United States national parks, had not he

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