Workamping For Vanwellers
By Bob Wells
If you are interested in adapting a mobile lifestyle by living in a vehicle such as a van, then one
of your first thoughts is, "How will I earn money?" The answer depends on your circumstances.
Vandwellers come in two types, one lives in a city and works a regular job while stealth parking.
The other travels and lives in many different types of places such as National Forests or BLM
land, only staying in cities when there is some need for it.
While I have been both types of a vandweller, I am currently traveling fulltime. I camp in the
National Forests or BLM land and travel around to the National Parks, photographing the
amazing beauty of this country. I save money by camping for free on dispersed campsites,
but with the high price of gas, I found I couldn't afford to travel as much as I wanted. I
needed to find another source of income to keep traveling. A fellow vandweller told me about
workamper.com. He had joined the website and had been flooded with job offers working in
National Forests as a campground host. That really appealed to me!! I could live for free in a
campground in a beautiful setting, and get paid for all the hours I work! On my days-off I
could travel around the area and take pictures of beautiful scenery. It sounded perfect to me,
so I paid to join the site ($34 a year), and started looking for jobs.
The first thing you do is write a resume telling about your work experience and describing the
kind of job you are looking for. My friend had told me that there were many RVers who
wanted the jobs with full-hookups, but there weren't many people who wanted the
more remote campgrounds which only have water and a pit toilet. So when I wrote my
resume, I described myself and said I specifically wanted remote campgrounds without hookups.
Since I don't have air-conditioning, one high priority I had was that I needed to work in a place
that had cool summers.
Within two weeks I had three job offers. The first was on the Oregon coast in an RV park, the
second was in Tahoe National Forest in California, and the third was at the Mt. Elbert
campground, just outside of Leadville, Colorado. They would all have been great jobs. They all
paid minimum wage for 40 hours a week. The minimum wage in Oregon and California was $8 an
hour, and in Colorado it was $7 an hour, but I really wanted to see Colorado, so I took that job.
I am just finishing my first season and it has been really terrific. My campground is between
the two highest mountains in Colorado, Mt Elbert, and Mt. Massive, I literally can walk from my
site to either trailhead in five minutes. I am a few hours away from Rocky Mountain National
Park, Aspen, Crested Butte, Vail, and Breckinridge. It is a stunningly beautiful area. As a huge
bonus, because I am at 10,000 feet, the weather was never hot.
Whenever I greet a camper to the campground, and they find out that I live in the campground
and get paid to do it, they tell me how envious they are. They're right, it is a wonderful life
that I highly recommend to all traveling vandwellers.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1) Don't workampers trade hours-worked for their
camp site?
In most private campgrounds that is how it works. A common arrangement is to work the first
20 hours for your site and utilities, and then you are paid for any hours you work over that.
That obviously is not a good deal for vandwellers. What I am talking about is campground
hosting in the National Forests. There are many campgrounds in the National Forests, and the
Forest Service contracts most of them out to private contractors to operate. So a private
company hires people to be campground hosts and pays them to live in the campground.
Generally, there is no charge for the site, you are paid for every hour you work. However, there
are a few companies that do charge for your site, so you want that to be clear before you agree
to work for them. I would almost certainly not work for a company that charged for the site.
There are some campgrounds that have electric and even hookups, and some are remote and have
no services except a hand pump and pit toilets. The jobs with electric and hookups are in
demand and there are a lot of RVers chasing after them. It is much harder to find hosts for the
campgrounds with no services because the RV crowd isn't interested. Lack of utilities is no
problem for a vandweller so you won't have any problem finding those kind of jobs.
2) What is the job like? Here are your duties:
My time was split pretty evenly between these three parts. Like any job,sometimes it would get
boring and tedious. But without any doubt it is the best job I have ever had. There were many
times when I thought, "Wow, this is a really great job, I'm glad I'm here!" I have never said
that about any other job I have ever had.
3) How do I get started?
If you are ready to start workamping, join workampers.com today! They are the main
clearinghouse of workamping jobs. Employers go there to find their hosts. You can sign up for a
daily email listings of job openings and start watching for jobs that interest you. Hiring for
the campgrounds starts in February-March so you want to join before then. While campground
hosting is the main job vandwellers would be interested in, there are many other types of jobs
posted on workamping.com. One example is that Amazon.com hires for the Christmas rush at
their warehouse in Kansas and they pay $10 an hour and provide you with a free site at a
nearby State Park. Caretaking for lodges is another example. There is a surprising variety of
jobs.
4) What questions should I ask when I contact an
employer?
What are the best things about Workamping?
One thing that makes workamping such a great job, is that it lasts a short time. Because of the
severe winters in the Colorado Rockies, this job only lasted 3 months. Just when I was getting a
little tired of it, it was over! To be honest, I wish it had lasted another month. In more mild
climates, the season can last 4 to 5 months. Once your season is over, you can do whatever you
want. You can start looking for another job, or take time off to travel. In the summer its easy
to find jobs in cool climates, and then in the winter you look for jobs in warmer climates. That
solves one of the worst thing about vandwelling: it is too hot in the summer and hard to stay
warm in the winter.
Something else that made this the ideal job for me is that it is great if you travel with a dog
like I do. I hated the idea of getting a job where I have to leave my best friend in my camper
for 8 hours a day. As a campground host, we went for walks in the forest every morning and
evening. He went with me when I made my rounds and greeted the campers. He is so well
behaved that nearly every camper loved him and he loved meeting them and getting attention. He
loved the job as much as I did.
For me, the best thing about workamping is spending time in such beautiful places. On my days
off I drove a few hours to stunningly beautiful places. I was in Colorado through its short but
spectacular wildflower season, and fall colors. It was so beautiful that it would take my breath
away. I am currently lining up a job for next summer near Mammoth Springs just outside of
Yosemite National Park. I can't wait!!
of your first thoughts is, "How will I earn money?" The answer depends on your circumstances.
Vandwellers come in two types, one lives in a city and works a regular job while stealth parking.
The other travels and lives in many different types of places such as National Forests or BLM
land, only staying in cities when there is some need for it.
While I have been both types of a vandweller, I am currently traveling fulltime. I camp in the
National Forests or BLM land and travel around to the National Parks, photographing the
amazing beauty of this country. I save money by camping for free on dispersed campsites,
but with the high price of gas, I found I couldn't afford to travel as much as I wanted. I
needed to find another source of income to keep traveling. A fellow vandweller told me about
workamper.com. He had joined the website and had been flooded with job offers working in
National Forests as a campground host. That really appealed to me!! I could live for free in a
campground in a beautiful setting, and get paid for all the hours I work! On my days-off I
could travel around the area and take pictures of beautiful scenery. It sounded perfect to me,
so I paid to join the site ($34 a year), and started looking for jobs.
The first thing you do is write a resume telling about your work experience and describing the
kind of job you are looking for. My friend had told me that there were many RVers who
wanted the jobs with full-hookups, but there weren't many people who wanted the
more remote campgrounds which only have water and a pit toilet. So when I wrote my
resume, I described myself and said I specifically wanted remote campgrounds without hookups.
Since I don't have air-conditioning, one high priority I had was that I needed to work in a place
that had cool summers.
Within two weeks I had three job offers. The first was on the Oregon coast in an RV park, the
second was in Tahoe National Forest in California, and the third was at the Mt. Elbert
campground, just outside of Leadville, Colorado. They would all have been great jobs. They all
paid minimum wage for 40 hours a week. The minimum wage in Oregon and California was $8 an
hour, and in Colorado it was $7 an hour, but I really wanted to see Colorado, so I took that job.
I am just finishing my first season and it has been really terrific. My campground is between
the two highest mountains in Colorado, Mt Elbert, and Mt. Massive, I literally can walk from my
site to either trailhead in five minutes. I am a few hours away from Rocky Mountain National
Park, Aspen, Crested Butte, Vail, and Breckinridge. It is a stunningly beautiful area. As a huge
bonus, because I am at 10,000 feet, the weather was never hot.
Whenever I greet a camper to the campground, and they find out that I live in the campground
and get paid to do it, they tell me how envious they are. They're right, it is a wonderful life
that I highly recommend to all traveling vandwellers.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1) Don't workampers trade hours-worked for their
camp site?
In most private campgrounds that is how it works. A common arrangement is to work the first
20 hours for your site and utilities, and then you are paid for any hours you work over that.
That obviously is not a good deal for vandwellers. What I am talking about is campground
hosting in the National Forests. There are many campgrounds in the National Forests, and the
Forest Service contracts most of them out to private contractors to operate. So a private
company hires people to be campground hosts and pays them to live in the campground.
Generally, there is no charge for the site, you are paid for every hour you work. However, there
are a few companies that do charge for your site, so you want that to be clear before you agree
to work for them. I would almost certainly not work for a company that charged for the site.
There are some campgrounds that have electric and even hookups, and some are remote and have
no services except a hand pump and pit toilets. The jobs with electric and hookups are in
demand and there are a lot of RVers chasing after them. It is much harder to find hosts for the
campgrounds with no services because the RV crowd isn't interested. Lack of utilities is no
problem for a vandweller so you won't have any problem finding those kind of jobs.
2) What is the job like? Here are your duties:
- Greeting the campers: Every morning and evening I make the rounds and welcome
campers who are just coming into the campground. It's my job to know my area and be
able to answer the questions campers may have. The majority of my campers are here to
climb Mts. Elbert and Massive, so I climbed Elbert soon after I arrived. I also hiked
most of the trails in the area so I could describe them. Many of my campers are fishing, so
I learned all about the best spots and which bait to use. I am more of a loner, than social
person, but I soon grew to enjoy greeting people. They were nearly all just really nice
folks who are glad to get away into the National Forest and glad to learn what I had to
tell them. Their pleasure at getting away from their daily routine was contagious and I
nearly always felt better after making my rounds.
- Cleaning: After every camper leaves, I go into their site and clean out their campfire
ring, and pick up any trash they may have left behind. I had worried this may be a bad
job, but I am amazed at how clean most people leave their campsites. There were a few
exceptions, but nearly all my campsites were left very clean. I picked up mostly "micro"
trash like bottle caps, bread twist ties, and bandaids. My next cleaning job is the toilets.
There is no getting around it, cleaning toilets is no fun. But I found that after getting into
a routine, it wasn't so bad. The key for me was to give them frequent light cleaning and
not let them get real dirty. The toilets were the worst part of the job, but compared to
how great the job was, they were no big deal.
- Accounting: A big part of the job is collecting the money, recording the amounts, and
collecting data for the Forest Service. Most campers fill out the envelope at the fee
station, and drop the envelope into the fee tube. When I am making my morning and
evening rounds, I get the envelopes out of the tube, and greet the campers just coming in.
If there is anyone there who hasn't paid, I greet them and offer them an envelope to fill
out. That saves them the trip down to the fee station. I never had a problem collecting
money all summer. There were a few who I suspect didn't intend to pay, but when I
showed up, they willingly paid. After I collect the money, I record it on a daily form the
company provides. At the end of the week I count all the money and fill out a weekly
summary that I give to my boss who comes out to collect. I also fill out a form for the
Forest Service that tells how many campers I had, and which states they are from.
My time was split pretty evenly between these three parts. Like any job,sometimes it would get
boring and tedious. But without any doubt it is the best job I have ever had. There were many
times when I thought, "Wow, this is a really great job, I'm glad I'm here!" I have never said
that about any other job I have ever had.
3) How do I get started?
If you are ready to start workamping, join workampers.com today! They are the main
clearinghouse of workamping jobs. Employers go there to find their hosts. You can sign up for a
daily email listings of job openings and start watching for jobs that interest you. Hiring for
the campgrounds starts in February-March so you want to join before then. While campground
hosting is the main job vandwellers would be interested in, there are many other types of jobs
posted on workamping.com. One example is that Amazon.com hires for the Christmas rush at
their warehouse in Kansas and they pay $10 an hour and provide you with a free site at a
nearby State Park. Caretaking for lodges is another example. There is a surprising variety of
jobs.
4) What questions should I ask when I contact an
employer?
- What is the hourly pay?
- Do I have to pay for my site, or is it free?
- How many hours a week will I be paid?
- Do I keep track of every hour worked or is it 8 hours per day? The reason to ask this is
sometimes the campground isn't busy and you may not work 8 hours, and sometimes it is
very busy and you will work more than 8 hours. Over the course of the summer it balances
out. - Will I have 2 days off and when will they be?
- Do you encourage or discourage your hosts to leave the campground on their days off?
- How far away is the nearest town of any size?
- How long is the work season?
- What utilities are available in the campground?
- If there are multiple campgrounds or day-use areas, will I be provided a vehicle to drive
between them? I had 2 campgrounds and a day-use area, I was given an ATV 4-wheeler to
ride between them. That was fine except for when it was cold or raining, then it was a pain
in the butt. - If you have a pet, are pets allowed?
What are the best things about Workamping?
One thing that makes workamping such a great job, is that it lasts a short time. Because of the
severe winters in the Colorado Rockies, this job only lasted 3 months. Just when I was getting a
little tired of it, it was over! To be honest, I wish it had lasted another month. In more mild
climates, the season can last 4 to 5 months. Once your season is over, you can do whatever you
want. You can start looking for another job, or take time off to travel. In the summer its easy
to find jobs in cool climates, and then in the winter you look for jobs in warmer climates. That
solves one of the worst thing about vandwelling: it is too hot in the summer and hard to stay
warm in the winter.
Something else that made this the ideal job for me is that it is great if you travel with a dog
like I do. I hated the idea of getting a job where I have to leave my best friend in my camper
for 8 hours a day. As a campground host, we went for walks in the forest every morning and
evening. He went with me when I made my rounds and greeted the campers. He is so well
behaved that nearly every camper loved him and he loved meeting them and getting attention. He
loved the job as much as I did.
For me, the best thing about workamping is spending time in such beautiful places. On my days
off I drove a few hours to stunningly beautiful places. I was in Colorado through its short but
spectacular wildflower season, and fall colors. It was so beautiful that it would take my breath
away. I am currently lining up a job for next summer near Mammoth Springs just outside of
Yosemite National Park. I can't wait!!
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| was a host in 2008. That is Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado. |