So many people have asked us what we do as Camp Hosts. I had to laugh the other day when a little boy about 3-4 years old came up to me in the Day Use area when Bob and I were working, and said “What are you?” “What are you picking?” Not who are you, but what are you?
Bob and I have hosted in a variety of different parks over the years. Washington Parks include Lincoln Rock State Park in Wenatchee, Lake Wenatchee State Park in Leavenworth, and Confluence Park in Wenatchee. At one time we also hosted at Ice Harbor Dam and Visitor Center on the Snake River and Lake Sacajawea in Eastern Washington (managed by the Corps of Engineers) and acquired a whole new knowledge of the migrating salmon populations. This place has employees that actually sit in a little dark room counting every single salmon that comes through the dam ladder. While initially fascinating, I can’t imagine doing this day in and day out without going out of my mind!
Outside of WA State, we also camp hosted at Usery Regional Park in Mesa, AZ. This was a difficult park because camp hosts didn’t have any kind of vehicle, and so we had to walk from camp site to camp site in extreme heat, with rakes, shovels, trash bags, etc. The manager of this park then informed the camp hosts there that cleaning bathrooms would be added to our responsibilities, and we said Bye Bye then! Didn’t sign up for bathrooms, and it’s very unusual for a camp host to have any bathroom duties …. that was a deal breaker for us! Bathrooms and general maintenance is usually the job of a paid Park Aide. This park however, is unusually beautiful and scenic and we are glad we had a chance to experience it.
One of the challenges of working in a State Park, particularly one this remote, is that internet service and cell service is either unavailable or extremely sketchy. Bob was able somehow to get 2 bars on his phone (but no data) through extreme measures and contortions!
Different parks have different duties, but here’s the essence of what our normal day looks like….. A Camp Host schedule here is 5 consecutive days per week, followed by two days off. We try to get out of the park as much as possible during our days off since campers really don’t care much if you’re Off Duty … they need what they need. We are required to work 14 hours per week each, but the truth is we work considerably more than that. There is so much to do and so much park to cover, that we end up working about 4-6 hours per day.
First and foremost … represent yourself professionally to the park’s visitors. We are a source of information and assistance in the park when park staff may not be readily available.
Keep the park clean … this includes gathering trash bags from all existing cans, replacing with new bags, and taking to the assigned dumpster or compactor.
Litter control …. using pickers, walk the assigned area and pick up and dispose of all available litter.
Clean common areas such as shelters and picnic tables.
Sell firewood … in some parks, you may drive around and sell to individual campers at their sites, or be available at the host site to sell.
Clean departing sites for incoming visitors. This includes removing litter or left trash at the sites, cleaning out the fire pit, and making sure the site is welcoming to incoming campers.
For the first time in our camping experience, we have the added responsibilities of irrigation. This park does not have automatic sprinklers as we have had in other parks, so we are moving hoses and inserting sprinkler heads in irrigation boxes throughout our loop.
That’s really about it! It’s pretty physical work for those who are used to sedentary life styles, but we always leave the parks in better physical shape than when we arrived. We average about 10-12,000 steps per day according to our Fit Bit.
Most camp hosts are retired, and some are VERY retired … some do this as a full time lifestyle, moving from campground to campground throughout the year in their RV’s. As much as we enjoy our occasional times, that would not be a lifestyle we would choose. It’s always good to get home. This 3 month voyage throughout the U.S. is a wonderful experience, but my king size bed and my spacious kitchen and living areas will be calling me by the end of the sojourn!
Having hosted at a number of different parks over the years, we are grateful for the vast majority of the campers who treat the park with respect, but for the small minority who don’t, here are some bone head things they do that make you scratch your head:
- Dumping food and garbage in the fire pit before they leave
- Leaving used toilet paper on the floor of the bathrooms
- Dumping pistachio nut shells on the ground – such a pain to pick up and they are dropped in the hundreds!
- Water balloons … say no more!
- Not picking up after their pets
- Trying to break into the token machines in the showers to steal tokens that have absolutely no value. The State Parks do not buy tokens back.
- Leaving opened trash bags right in front of the dumpster, many of which are then vandalized by wildlife … and yes, that would be us picking up the mess!
- Dumping trash bags into the recyle containers.
- Not following simple instructions as to trash disposal!
- Driving blind or stupid … see pic below of a guy who got upset at having to move his truck off the grass, and ran right over the fire pit!
Despite these behaviors, we do enjoy our time in the parks, and grateful that most of our campers are really great and support the efforts of conservation and protection of these special lands. It’s rewarding community service work, with the bonus of camping at no cost during our work camper time.