Father-daughter duo participate in the "Government Closure Watch Patrol" hike in the National Park

Two weeks after Government Closure this family's mission is to clean up the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is common for Marc Newland and his daughter Erica to spend their time together hiking, but their last excursion had a deeper purpose. After hearing about the stop, Erica suggested they spend their time picking up some of the trash left in the park.

Many parks are currently open despite the closure, but with little staff for maintaining them . According to the Knoxville News Sentinel newspaper, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Emergency Fund has run out on New Year's Day. This park is now part of the Ministry of the Interior's emergency plan. 39; Interior.

Newland detailed his plans in an article in the Facebook group Hike the Smokies.

"First of all, we went to the beginning of Little River and Jake's Creek trails, where we were pleasantly surprised to find that there had been not a lot of work for us, "wrote Newland. "Then we headed to the start of the Laurel Falls Trail and, as expected, we had a lot of work! We took the track and before we knew it, our bags were full."

Newland is not personally touched by the closure, but his family was always inspired to make a difference in their community. "I am not an official, but a passionate hiker who lives just outside our national park," Newland told CBS News. "We always made an effort to clean the trash on our hike, but after explaining the closure to Erica (our 10 year old daughter), she was inspired to revive our efforts and make a real difference."

The country's national parks suffered from at the close of its third week. There are still many parks without rangers and other staff who keep parks clean and running. And three people died in the national parks since the beginning of the closure, including a woman who was killed by a tree that fell in Great Smoky National Park.

Newland said the hike was "a fun and very rewarding day for both of us."

"Erica says she'd like to challenge other hikers to take a day off to get to miles and awesome vista photos and instead, give out by picking up a trash bag, going to the park and picking up litter !! "Newland wrote. "These mountains give so much to so many people, imagine if only a fraction of these people decided to give back to the mountains …"