Millions of people flock to see the beauty of Yosemite National Park each year, but this month they were met with the strange sight of an upside-down American flag.
Draped over the side of El Capitan, the famed 7,500-foot rockface in the park, was the nation’s flag with the union pointing to the ground on Saturday.
The flag was reportedly hung by Gavin Carpenter, a maintenance mechanic at the park, who told the San Francisco Chronicle that it was an act of protest against the Trump Administration’s downsizing of the federal government.
Hanging an American flag upside-down is a nationally recognized signal of ‘distress,’ but is also considered disrespectful. The act is recognized as protected free speech under the First Amendment.
On February 14, the Trump Administration fired 2,000 employees from the US Forest Service. Those layoffs targeted probationary and non-firefighting employees.
Another 1,000 jobs from the National Park Service were cut as well.
‘We’re bringing attention to what’s happening to the parks, which are every American’s properties,’ Carpenter said.
‘It’s super important we take care of them, and we’re losing people here, and it’s not sustainable if we want to keep the parks open,’ the mechanic added.
Workers at Yosemite National Park were allegedly behind hanging the American flag upside-down on El Capitan
Brittany Colt captured the sight of the American flag hanging as a signal of ‘distress’ on the side of a 7,500-foot rockface in Yosemite
According to the US Flag Code, displaying the flag upside-down is only meant to tell others you’re in ‘dire distress.’ It’s generally meant to alert someone that you may need help, like during a natural disaster or a war.
AmericanFlags.com claims that it is ‘appropriate’ to hang the flag upside-down during personal distress, natural disasters, wars and conflicts, civil unrest, and political turmoil.
The last one in that group has seemingly grown in recent years to include general dissatisfaction with elected officials, as protesters during both the Trump and Biden Administrations have reportedly hung the flag upside-down to display their anger.
Photographer Brittany Colt snapped a photo of the upside-down flag in El Capitan, sharing it on Instagram where she said it hit close home for her.
‘I witnessed several of my friends lose their jobs overnight while leaving our public lands vulnerable. These people had very valuable jobs, such as Search and Rescue and keeping the restrooms and park clean for visitors.’
‘If we lose the public servants, the park experience will get only harder and potentially more dangerous for visitors,’ she added.
Among the notable firings national park workers were protesting included the only locksmith at Yosemite, the only EMT ranger at Devils Postpile National Monument, and a veteran sled dog musher in Alaska’s Denali National Park.
Alex Wild, a former Yosemite and the only certified EMT ranger at Devils Postpile National Monument in California, told NBC: ‘I’m the only person available to rescue someone, to do CPR, to carry them out from a trail if they got injured.’
Protesters vented their frustrations over the firings at DOGE, the government efficiency group led by SpaceX founder Elon Musk
The Trump Administration fired approximately 3,000 people from the US Forest Service and National Park Service in February, but plan to reverse some of the cuts
Along with Carpenter displaying an upside-down flag, a group of laid-off park employees gathered at Yosemite on Saturday to protest their firings.
Some protesters pointed their anger at Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and now the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
DOGE has been the figurehead of President Trump’s slashing of the federal workforce over the last month – including 77,000 government employees who accepted buyouts to quit their jobs.
In addition to calling for the dismissals of federal workers allegedly hired based on DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) standards, the president and Musk have ordered government employees working remotely to return to their offices or face termination.
‘Nobody is gonna work from home,’ Trump claimed. ‘They are gonna be going out, they’re gonna play tennis, they’re gonna play golf, they’re gonna do a lot of things. They’re not working.’
Despite continuing to cut down the size of government, the Trump Administration is reversing course on some their cuts which led to the flag-flipping incident in Yosemite.
At least 50 people who were fired from the National Park Service are being rehired, and the government has promised to hire 7,700 seasonal employees for the agency, according to the Associated Press.
