Thousands of adrenaline junkies including BASE jumpers are flocking to California’s Yosemite National Park, as the US government shutdown leaves the few rangers on duty struggling to cope at the popular climbing destination.

The shutdown, which began on October 1 due to a budget impasse in Congress, has sent personnel levels plummeting at the park — which is home to the imposing 3,000-foot (915-meter) granite wall known as El Capitan.

“We’re challenged,” a park ranger told AFP, on condition of anonymity.

“A lot of rangers have been furloughed” and those still working have had to contend with “an increase in illegal activity,” he said.

Yosemite typically draws four million visitors a year.

Personnel now absent from the national park include scientists, researchers, and the workers who

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