Today is our last day camp hosting in the park. We woke up late and had no plans to venture anywhere. Instead, we did laundry, took down the screen tent, cleaned the van, and talked to people.
When camping, we hardly ever have any interaction with other campers, but as camp hosts, we seem to attract other campers. They seem eager to talk to camp hosts, and many of them were curious about camp hosting and how to become one.
If you are interested in volunteering as a camp host or hostess in Pukaskwa National Park you can find all of the information here. Not all parks offer volunteer opportunities, and not all volunteer opportunities are online. If you are interested in a specific park, best to contact them directly and ask.
Tips:
Screen tent
If you have one, bring it, especially if you are in the park during bug season which is pretty much from May until the beginning of September. We were there mid-September and didn’t need it for the bugs since there really weren’t any, but it was our office. We had the forms and brochures on the picnic table and there was enough shelter from the rain or sun, and if there was a gust of wind, the paperwork didn’t get to spread over all of Lake Superior. It sure beats running in and out of the van with forms.
Axe
Some parks, Pukaskwa included, do not provide kindling. It may be hard to start a fire, especially since collecting any plant material in the park is forbidden. It’s also nice to be able to help those that came less prepared, expecting to buy kindling.
Comfortable chairs
If you have a comfortable chair, bring it. You may be sitting around more than you would have if you weren’t camp hosting. You might as well do this in comfort.
Explore beyond
Venture beyond the park and start exploring the lesser known sights. Not only you may find some hidden gems, but you may also find them without crowds.
For us, camphosting was an enjoyable experience and very different than our usual camping experiences. We rarely stay in one park for more than 2-3 days, and this two week stint forced us to stay put and explore the area, which was great. It also forced us to be a bit more social and talk to people. It helped that there were interesting and friendly people form all over the world with appreciation for nature and the outdoors, all looking forward to sharing their experiences. All in all a great experience and we will consider doing this again, either in this park, or perhaps in a new one.
Tomorrow we will start making our way back home. We will make a few stops along the shores of Lake Superior on both the Canadian and the American sides, so expect a couple more posts from us this trip.
There is only one picture today:
All packed and ready to move on, so don’t go away, there are some misadventures waiting for you to read about!
Camp hosting is also available in Australian National Parks
Good to know! It’s an interesting experience!
Congratulations you did it and did it well! I’m sure you saw a lot more of this beautiful area than you normally would have time for. Thank you for sharing all of it. 😉
We sure did! Thanks for coming along!
It sounds like a pretty fun gig. Way to build up the suspense for your misadventures..
Haha, the big reveal should be on Saturday 🙂
Like!
❤️
Congrats on making it to the end. I really enjoyed following along and appreciate your tips. We always pack an axe too. I’ve watched enough horror movies to know better!
How does laundry work?
Thank you! As to laundry, the park has a coin operated washer and dryer, which we used!
Life out in the wild!
Well, almost 😊
In the sense of being close to nature – even with the comforts of a camper! I grew up camping on Washington state’s Olympic peninsula…sleeping bag on the ground, a communal single “cold shower”…no wonder I don’t camp much now…although we spent the night in a place called “Under Canvas” which is a nicely set up tent close to Zion national park and it was terrific!
This is how we used to camp until 3 years ago. I used to look down my nose at those who showed up in campgrounds with their RVs 😊
Hey, you can always sleep out under the stars on the ground if you want – but not because it’s the only option!
😂
Misadventures? I’m intrigued to see where this goes…
Ha! Come back on Saturday!
It’s been a wonderful experience for all of us reading and seeing your photos too.
And we love y’all coming along and keeping us company!
Interesting post. I always enjoy your photos. Love camping, have done it my whole life. Have spent many a night on the ground in a sleeping bag enjoying the stars.
Interesting how things evolved for us. We bought the campervan, not to go camping, but more for road trip when we move constantly and many times in the winter. Now that we have it, we’ve grown attached to it 🙂
Campers and Vans are great. We have had several over the years and they certinally spoil a person.
Sounds like you had an enjoyable experience being a camp host. This is definitely something I would be interested in trying during retirement. I would love to just tour through all the national parks in North America.
In the states, you can stay in one spot for the entire season. I don’t think that I could do that…anyway, you have some time to go until retirement!
Have you camp hosted at Assateague the State Park? They seem to have some on every camping loop. My friends go there every year and I joined them the past two. They want to be camp hosts a few weeks a year when they retire.
This was our first time camp hosting. We did camp at Assateague and it’s an amazing place!
It is indeed!
Cool that you got to leave during the day. I thought it would be more time consuming. I may have to look into that sometime. I need to talk more to strangers