Unfortunately I had much the same feeling last fall when I visited during the pandemic - the Visitor Center was shut tight as the proverbial drum and the grounds looked seedy and unkempt. However, once I embarked on the circular tour road I was pleasantly surprised to discover I wasn't actually all alone; there were several other visitors, and I even spied a NPS ranger near Elkhorn Tavern talking with another visitor. One possibly questionable decision made within the past several years may prove to be a double-edged sword: the main highway has been moved a little farther away, making the Visitor Center no longer visible from it. That sounds like a good idea from a preservation/interpretation point of view, but the former easy accessibility may no longer attract casual visitors on their way elsewhere like it probably has in the past.