Yosemite National Park closure

Bastian Ziegler, a Yosemite visitor from Stuttgart, Germany, leaves the Wawona Hotel on Wednesday. Campground and hotel reservations inside the national park were no longer being honored because of the national park’s closure; visitors were issued refunds and told they could no longer enter the park. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Oct. 2, 2013 8:05 PM PT

Curry Village on the valley floor was almost deserted Wednesday afternoon. It was silent, except for the sound of squirrels, birds and wind rustling through trees. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Corinne and Dan Thill pack up their car and leave the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite on Wednesday because of the federal government shutdown. Authorities told everyone remaining Wednesday that they needed to leave the park by 3 p.m. Thursday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A deer is among the wildlife that visitors will not be able to see in Yosemite National Park because of its closure caused by the government shutdown. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

There was a pall over Yosemite on Wednesday. Among rangers, employees, naturalists and visitors, there was an unsettling sense that something ancient and sturdy had become beleaguered, reduced to just another political football. “This was supposed to be the highlight of our trip,” said Gemma Edwards, 35, right, standing next to her boyfriend, Stuart Ackroyd, 33, in Yosemite’s Curry Village. The pair were visiting from Guildford, England. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Jeffrey Gardner tells motorists Wednesday about Yosemite National Park’s closure caused by the federal government shutdown. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)