Curious to hear about your Work Camping Planning and Lifestyle

[deerewrench]

Yes, what does a gate guard do? And extra pay if I have a 235 cert? Or is it required?

[affreeman]

I am in my first year of full-timing and my first season of workamping. I left New England last November and spent the winter having an amazing time meandering all over the southwest. Now I am spending the summer as a full-time paid camphost employed by a concessionaire that operates campgrounds for the Forest Service in Colorado and other states. I get my full hookup site for free and get paid the Colorado minimum wage of $10.20/hr for 40 hours per week.

When I leave here in mid-September the plan is to head east to New England to visit my daughter and other family there, then towards the end of October I'll start heading south. I've got a volunteer job (~25 hours per week in exchange for a full hookup site plus laundry) at a National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana lined up for mid-November to mid-February.

As important as the bit of money I earn workamping is the money I don't spend since I'm not traveling and putting $100 in the gas tank every day, and I'm not paying for campsites and utilities.

[Scottybdivin]

Allen, what part of Colorado, what campground are you in? What is you job description and what kind of duties make up your day?

[affreeman]

Originally Posted by Scottybdivin

Allen, what part of Colorado, what campground are you in? What is you job description and what kind of duties make up your day?

I am in the White Mountain National Forest about 30 miles east of Meeker, CO. The company I work for, CLM Services DBA White River Recreation, operates about a dozen Forest Service campgrounds in the area.

In theory my camphost job at the campground I'm assigned is 25 hours per week. I then work another 15 hours per week assisting the maintenance guy responsible for maintenance of all of the area campgrounds.

I keep busy, but it's not a stressful job. I make the rounds cleaning the bathrooms every morning. I check in campers. Sell firewood. Answer questions. Make sure people know to use the bear boxes.

When campers leave I check the site and make sure it's clean and tidy for the next camper. Clean the fire pits if necessary.

I mow the grass, trim shrubbery, etc. Maintenance tasks might be spending half a day re-setting a bear box some yahoos vandalized, or trekking up in the hills above one of the campgrounds to get the spring running to supply the water system in one of the campgrounds. One day I was troubleshooting the satellite internet for the hosts at one of the more remote sites.

Right now we're under Stage 2 fire restrictions and I make sure to talk to every camper and be sure they know there are no fires allowed, and no smoking anywhere other than in their enclosed vehicle.

[Scottybdivin]

Allen, thanks for the job description. It sounds very fulfilling.

[TC Wndsr]

We arranged our winter 2019 workamping position in Florida while we were there in Feb 2018. Positions tend to fill up quickly in Florida. It was nice to be able to visit and actually see where we’d be working and interview with our future coworkers.

[1bigmess]

This is who I work for, adn I really enjoy the travel and the work. I've worked in Eastern Idaho, Eastern Washington/northern Idaho, and I am currently in the Bend/Redmond OR area. From here I'll be headed to Eastern Oregon, then working my way to The Washington Coast, then Longview, which is near where my home address is. I've done ERT replacement (https://www.cngc.com/safety-educatio...e-ert-project/, and gas line leak survey. At SOuthern Cross, Travellers are given choices of job locations, decent hourly pay and a per diem. Many travellers take the winter off. If you look at the Southern Cross jobs on Indeed.com you might go to one of those projects as a traveller and work with folks that live in the area. My little brother travels around mainly the southern states with his family and he likes the travel and the work. I'll stick with this for a long time I think.

https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=b3...i&from=company