I've had the good fortune to have visited 25 of our nation’s 62 national park units. Some of them I drove through, many of them I hiked and camped in, and one I was blessed to work in for 4 years.
Sequoia National Park is gorgeous; however, the facilities and staff at Lodgepole Village Market, under the management of the concessioner Delaware North Parks & Resorts (DNC), are the definition of abysmal. Let me be clear: this is not an NPS issue—the responsibility rests squarely with the concessioner.
On paper, the men's and women's shower facilities at Lodgepole have five stalls each. My family is here in the first week of July—high season, mind you— and only 2 of the 5 stalls in the women's facility are functional. In the men's partition, 3 of the 5 are in working order. Perhaps this in particular is an NPS issue; I do not know.
But the showers are fetid. Please see my attached photos. I was hoping that it was a one-off experience our first night, but tonight sees the SAME thick cake of scum on the shower floor as the previous night. It's at least an eighth of an inch thick, and I'm not sure whether it is composed of hair, mildew, mud, or some combination of all of these. As I took the photo, I was afraid I'd see two stalk eyes spring up from it as it finally attained life. The feast of the senses continues on into the sitting areas just outside the bathroom, which are full of trash, empty bottles, paper products, etc. Ditto the curb in the parking lot. See photos.
But enough about the facilities. How about the people?
Last night, we waited a long while in line to shower. This is certainly nothing new, and it isn't a problem. I just tried not to think of it being exacerbated by the fact that only half the stalls were functional. Well, we made our way in, but my wife and daughter faced repeated countdowns by the employees: “Folks, we're locking up in 10 minutes.” "Two minutes. “Time to go."
As I type this, the very next night, I just asked the manager if the shower dysfunction was an NPS issue or a DNC issue. She said, “It's an everybody issue” and walked away without looking at me. The female custodian standing by, who was definitely not supposed to talk, told me that the showers have been down since 2019.
It's 2024. DNC won their contract in 2016.
I've got a load of laundry going right now. I put it in at 7:20 p.m. The sign says the last washing loads are to be at 8:00 and the laundromat will close at 9:00. I arrived at 8:00 to switch clothes over to the dryer, and the manager almost didn't let me in. I pointed to the sign. She said, “If we let people keep doing laundry, we’ll be here till midnight.” I pointed out that my laundry was already washed and that the sign says that the laundromat doesn't close till 9:00, so she let me in. She told me that she'd have “to lock me in." The door doesn't have a bolt throw on the inside, so I suppose she really meant "locked in,” though she ultimately did not do it. It's 8:53 now, and she's come back once or twice to look at locking the door.
Folks, I'm not hard to get along with. I teach high school, so I deal with teenagers every day, and though I don't quite have the patience of Job, I like to think I get pretty darn close.
I'll tell you what I think the problem is: DNC has a TEN YEAR contract with the government, and the experiences my family and I have had the last two evenings have demonstrated that some of DNC’s employees exhibit minimal desire to do things the right way or be courteous and civil while doing it. I do not know whether the issue is systemic, but I do know that our visit to this beautiful park has been notably compromised. Sequoia and our Park Service...
Read more
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI.
