ASHEVILLE — The Blue Ridge Parkway is supposed to be open — roads unaffected by the federal government shutdown, the National Park Service website reads. But gates shutting off major portions of the scenic route said otherwise as countless visitors tried to take advantage of Saturday's sunny weather.

Among the motorists disappointed by the closures were Amanda Murphy, of Raleigh, and Tim Scargill, who was visiting North Carolina all the way from England. Murphy and Scargill were visiting Asheville for the first time, and parkway hiking was high on their to-do list.

"Everybody told us to check out Asheville — to check out the parkway — but here we are," Murphy told the Citizen Times Saturday afternoon while standing next to gate near Bent Creek. The parkway was closed as far south as Mount Pisgah and beyond.

The government shutdown, which began at midnight Dec. 22 after congress failed to agree on a spending plan including $5 billion for President Trump's proposed border wall, saw some 800,000 "nonessential" federal employees furloughed.

The shutdown wasn't supposed to lead to road closures along the parkway, according to the National Park Service. Only the visitor center, campgrounds and government offices were supposed to be closed.

Park rangers, deemed essential in order for safety, were not all furloughed for the duration of the shutdown, but park maintenance workers were, leading to the problems that Murphy, Scargill and hundreds of other motorists encountered on Saturday alone.

About 100 yards north of the Folk Art Center, which is about the only thing on the parkway that is open now, a giant pine tree lies sprawled across the road. It fell over the weekend, closing the portion of the road that runs north to Mount Mitchell.

Nobody is on the clock to clean that tree and other debris littering roads and causing closures throughout the length of the parkway, according to a Folk Art Center employee who asked not to be named because she is supposed to direct media inquiries to Parkway Spokeswoman Leesa Brandon.

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Though the Folk Art Center has been able to remain open because it is maintained by the Southern Highland Craft Guild, Brandon has been furloughed as a nonessential government employee. Her voicemail message says she won't be able to take calls until after the shutdown ends.

The Folk Art Center employee said that the number of visitors moving through the building in which she works has dropped off noticeably in the weeks since the shutdown took effect and the road closures started to mount.

"I don't know if winter has something to do with that. too, but it's definitely disappointing that people want to drive on the parkway and they can't," she said.

Road closures in the higher elevations are typical on the parkway in winter months, but closures caused by down trees that last for days are not.

Mount Mitchell is currently accessible due to the hard work of rangers who've cleared that portion of the parkway, the Folk Art Center employee said. But to get there, drivers will have to take Interstate 40 to N.C. 70 to U.S Route 70 to N.C. 80 to the parkway, which is closed both north and South of Mount Mitchell.

An online map maintained by the National Park Service is supposed to be updated with real-time parkway road closures. But that map isn't currently working.

At the gate barring motorists from traveling north along the parkway from the Folk Art Center, Nick Gibson of Asheville and John Wayne Harris of Brevard told the Citizen Times they were saddened by the closures. They were looking forward to spending the sunny afternoon "cruising the parkway."

"We love to drive the Tail of the Dragon, and the next best thing is the parkway, but not a closed parkway," Harris.

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Like many other drivers Saturday, Harris and Gibson were initially unaware of the role the government shutdown had played in denying them their afternoon drive.

In Bent Creek, Scargill, who will soon be returning to England, said that he too wasn't aware of the scale of the shutdown.

"It's surprising how much of an impact it can have on something even like exploring nature," he said.