It's the middle of snow season in the upper Midwest, so camping isn't on everyone's mind but this is the time that parks here start recruiting summer staff and volunteers. If you have time that you are willing stay at one place, you might consider volunteering as a camp host. Many places have opportunities for this. I work for the Wisconsin State Park system so that's what I'm most familiar with. There is information on the Wisconsin State Park website and it includes a volunteer application you can fill out. https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/volunteer.html
In a nutshell you get a free campsite in exchange for volunteering your time. (In Wisconsin it includes electricity but not water/sewer; we do have dump/fill stations. You will need to purchase a state park admission sticker good for the calendar year at any Wis. state park.) You would be a point of contact for other campers with questions. You also would be asked to do other tasks that fall in line with your interests and skills. The amount of time you spend depends on what the individual property needs and how much time you have.
I know you're already chatting with other campers about your Scamp, so why not get some free camping out of it? The most common question I get is, "Does it have a bathroom?"
Can anyone chime in about their camp host experience, have advice for others, or know more about what is available in other states/types of properties?
Hi Sarah. I like your profile picture with the Yellowstone Trail. My wife Missie and I have been volunteer hosts at Madison Campground in Yellowstone for the past three years and are planning to do another season this year. It's a 6 month gig and we share responsibilities with two other host couples. We report to the law enforcement rangers and they support us if we come across any serious violations. We work three days on and have three days off. Our main responsibility is food security from bears. We do rounds three times a day and make sure people are not leaving anything out that might attract bears or other animals. The campground has 292 sites so we stay quite busy. The trade off is we get to live in Yellowstone and enjoy everything the park has to offer.
We had been staying in our 1998 16' Scamp until last season when we upgraded to a 2016 19'. We've gotten lots of questions from people about our trailer and have given many tours. I'm attaching a couple photos of our campsite. One includes some visitors outside our door.
- Ken
I bet that's a coveted camp host location to be in. What a great way to spend 6 months.
About 25 feet wide and 13 states long, we are proud of the Yellowstone trail. In my area,some of it is gone, some is nothing more than small town roads.It was once lined with small "rest stops" for the tin can tourists as well as rental cabins. I have metal detected three of the rest stops in my area, and yes I have found some rusted TIN CANS. This web page lets you click on a state to see where is was, many years ago, and sometimes where it still runs today. http://www.yellowstonetrail.org/maps.html
A friend and I took a day trip on the Yellowstone Trail a few years ago. We got a slow start so we didn't make it to your neck of the woods, but some day we'll have to tackle that again. It is a fun time to follow that route where you can. I've been on a few segments of it, all interesting and different from the rest.