Camphosting at High Cliff State Park, Sherwood, WI

This a rerun of a blog I wrote three years ago... 

It is about our campground hosting at High Cliff State Park.

Since this post, Steve and I became the Camphost Coordinators 

to assist with training, information and scheduling of the camphosts. 

Last spring, we signed up for a full month of hosting, filled out a contract and application, and then got assigned the month of August. (we had a choice of two different months, but chose August)

Once we were approved, we got to move out to the site on Aug 1 after the last hosts vacated.  Our site has the electricity furnished, but no water or sewer hookups.  (neither do the other sites)   So after about 2 weeks, we will have to drive over to the dump station and empty our tanks and take on new water.

We got training manuals, a tote of supplies, including a weather radio, keys and wonderful little Cub Cadet to run around the park in.   We get to wear vests with namebadges, identifying that we are hosts.

Our position here at the state park has duties of campfire pit cleaning, picnic area grill cleaning, and most important, being here on the site to answer questions and hand out literature for questions from the campers in the park.  We are to put in 20 hours a week. There are no wages.

Some hosting positions in other places entail bathroom cleaning, dealing with unruly campers, or collecting fees.  We don't have to do any of that.   It's a pretty posh position!   In return, we get a free campsite, worth $868.00 for the month.

8 a.m.
Since Steveio also works in the park, I usually drive him over in the morning to his maintenance building office.  With a kiss and a sip of coffee, he is off doing his normal 8 hour day.

I come back to the motorhome and either work on a blog, catch up on emails or do some routine housework about the rig.

9 a.m.
I don't like to start cleaning campfire pits too early because of the noise level of banging cans and shovels as I work my way around the campground.   I have a master list of who left, who is leaving and who is staying.   The campground has 112 campsites to clean, and also 8 group sites each capable of holding 40 people or so.

It seems I clean about 10-15 sites a day.  That takes me about an hour or so.   I shovel out the firepit, pick up any litter and write down any damages or repairs needed or dead trees I see.

My little Cub Cadet holds 2 large ash cans, 4 smaller buckets, a garbage can and a recycling can.  I have various rakes, shovels, and trash picking tools.  AND NICE LEATHER GLOVES!  (a necessity!~)

Little Duke sure likes riding along with me.  I know I put this pic in the other day, but it's so cute I put it in again!   He likes getting little pets from the kids, and he hops out and "helps" me clean the pits.  Mostly he is searching the ground for any tidbits left behind!  (and yes, I have him on a leash at all times)

After I get a full load of ashes, it's time to get them dumped.  We have a large dumpster up by the maintenance building specifically for campfire ashes.  That way if there are any glowing coals or embers, they are contained in a large open area.

I back it up carefully to the ledge, but Steve comes over and unloads my big cans for me. 

(I am on a 20 pound lifting limit from the docs) 

Sometimes I am making two or three trips to get rid of ashes from all the cans and buckets. 

11 a.m.

Once that is done, I log the hours on my paperwork and head back to my campsite.  Remember the big storm I said we had in my last blog post?  Well, the roadways were covered with leaves and twigs.   Marlin, a volunteer at the park here, drove through with a tractor and a big blower device.  It cleaned up the roads fast and makes them look good again in no time!   This unit is also used in the fall for clearing the leaves. 

12 p.m.
Our site is located in the middle of the campground.  There is a sign in front of our site, inviting people to come into our site to ask questions.  We have a full file box of information about everything in the area and lists of things we can use to answer questions.

The sign was a bit of a problem because trees have grown up since it had been placed near the driveway of the site.  Kinda blocks it from view until you are right in front of the site.  So Steve decided it should be moved!   He wanted it closer to the nice walkway of lined white rocks (that I painted) to better align it for greeting people into our campsite.

 here is where it was

But this is what Steveio showed up in at our campsite to take care of moving the sign!!!!

What a Big Boy Sandbox Toy!!!!

He carefully hooked a chain to the top loop over the sign post, and lifted it off the ground!   The base was poured into a large concrete square that was really above the ground, but grown into the dirt and moss.

He carried it over about 30 feet to the better position near the nice walkway entrance to our campsite. 

Much nicer than having people entering at the drive around our cars and maintenance vehicles.

1 p.m. 
After lunch, I headed on down to the picnic area.  I had cleaned all the grills well last week, every single one in the park (I think there are about 60?)  But over the weekend some had been used.  So I wanted them all clean again for the upcoming picnickers this weekend.  Within an hour, I had them all done and picked up some trash around the park along the way.

2 p.m. 
I stopped at the main office building to turn in some paperwork, and what did I see????  Hmmmm a cute workman's butt?   I am the only one who can say that without accruing sexual harassment charges!~   Tee heee..... Steveio was working on some light fixtures over the kiosk at the main entrance lot.

3 p.m.
I came back to the motorhome now to catch up on some internet, emails and facebook.  I gathered the laundry because we were heading back to our house for the evening to do some projects and cut the grass and catch up the laundry.  We do have a washer/dryer in the motorhome, but since we don't have a water hookup, it would be using up 12 gallons of our water supply with each load.  We only have 100 gallons of water on board and want to make that last for 2 weeks.    We do have a portable water bladder and pumping device if we do run short, and can haul water that way to put into our motorhome if needed.

4 p.m.
Steve is done with his work for the day, and so am I.  We hop in the car with Dukie Palooki and head on home to Chilton, only 14 miles away.  I got the laundry going while Steve was cutting lawn.  Soon I watered all my flowers and bushes, and Duke made the rounds of his yard sniffing duties to see what has been in our yard during the week.  I cooked up a supper with odds and ends left in the fridge and freezer.  Most of our food is at the campground.

5 p.m. 
Steve started up the saw and air compressor to put up the rest of the trim in the bathroom while we were waiting for the last load of the dryer to finish up.   I will do a blog post about our bathroom remodel later on with all the pics in one post.   We hopped in the shower too while at home, to enjoy a longer one without limiting the water usage.

I loaded up my sockknitting machine to take back to the park and work on some orders....  and we picked up a few groceries to replenish for the weekend at the motorhome.

8 p.m. 
We are back in our campsite, and sitting in our lawn chairs enjoying the darkening woods and listening to a bit of rowdy kids making the rounds and definitely using their "outdoor voices"  ....   by 9 p.m. I shined a flashlight on them as they passed our site, and nicely, but firmly said "it's time to turn down the volume now kids"    and they did.

We answered a few questions from passing campers:
Why are the dumpsters located so far from the campground sites?
--- to keep the smells away and the nighttime raiding varmints and critters out of the campsites.

Why are only some sites electric and not others?
--- state law about ratio of electric (improved) sites to the total amount of sites overall.

Where can my dog swim?
---  there is an area down by the marina specific for doggies to enjoy the water, as well as a separate picnic area set aside for the use of picnickers with doggies. 

The night was pleasant, and we sat out in our chairs.  I think we had 9 or 10 different folks stop by our site. We touched base with the ranger on duty and then turned in for the night by 10 p.m.

.....and that is a day in the life of a Campground Host at High Cliff State Park! 

After the Weekend is Over - Camphosting in a State Park

Our High Cliff State Park was very busy this weekend.  I would say about 80% occupancy, with lovely weather in the high 70's and no rain in the forecast until later Sunday night.

As the folks started rolling in on Friday, we got a few questions, gave a few answers and chatted with a lot of folks. Our campsite is open and friendly ... and folks come on in to chat and share some stories, compliments and yes, even some complaints.

We have our campfire burning 

and enough extra chairs around it for folks to sit and chat.  

Throughout the weekend, we get to "people watch" folks around the park.  But these three boys stole the show!  (I got permission from their mom to post this)  We saw them walk past our site with two dogs.  The smaller pug seemed to need to take a "poop" and it was obvious all three boys were fascinated watching it happen. They all stood and stared as the dog did it's thing.  Then next was the decision of WHO had to clean it up!  One boy was already carrying a green bag with a rather large deposit in it, assumedly from the larger yellow lab.  Now they were passing the roll of green bags back and forth to each other... each one passing it back like a Hot Potato! The boy in the dark green Packer  shirt flopped onto the ground in protest, and laid there a while, next to the poop!  He seemed to have lost some bet and it was he who finally cleaned it up and off they went.   We were left in stitches from the safety of anonymity inside of our motorhome behind the windshield.

Later, as we walked around the park, 

we found their parents and informed them 

how well their boys did on "poop duty" .. 

Hahahahah! 

Some of our regular type problems were a noisy campsite, with a few complaints from the surrounding campers.  Three tents of young 20somethings, music and drinking.  We, as camphosts, don't have to do any confrontations. We just notify the rangers and they took care of the offenders.  They were asked to leave the park, and the ranger gave them an hour and half to arrange for rides and clean up their gear.  (they had been drinking of course)  The mess left behind was not acceptable, and they are also now going to be given a ticket for the littering.  Not to mention the nasty message left on the picnic table written, I think, with tooth paste?  Hmmmmm


In the campsite right across from us, we did have a large heavy top branch of a tree break off and was dangling dangerously down by a thin section of bark, ready to be a "widow maker" or at the very least, a dagger through someone's RV or tent roof.  We had to tape off the site, and get the office to make arrangements with the reserved people to find them another site in the campgrounds for the weekend.  Tomorrow the crew is going to come and remove it so the site can be used again.


Our dumpsters for all of the park trash are located a long distance from the camping areas.  The coons have already found the dumpsters for a free meal!  Dangnabbit!   The coons have a hard time getting in the top flip doors, but these dumpsters have some rear sliding door panels to allow access into the inside.  Those stinker coons have figured out how to slide those panels open to get to the goodies inside.  Steve thought he would outsmart them and laid blocks of wood in the sliding tracks to keep the coons from opening them up.  What happened to those blocks? We don't know.  We are thinking someone took for them firewood!  But the coons are back and happy to get inside.  This week, I think Steve will put some metal pipes in the tracks and see how that works?

We had one lady letting us know about someone cutting down LIVE trees for campfire wood!  She was also a former host from another park and knew that was a definite no-no.  During the winter months, the crews cut down 45 bad trees in the park, and left a lot of debris behind for campers to gather and use for firewood.  WHY do they need to cut down live trees????  Besides, green wood doesn't burn.  Geesh.


On another campsite, two great kids were busy busy busy collecting downed limbs and branches.  Look what they created????  They learned how to build a shelter!

I almost hate to tear it down this week when I go to clean the campsite.  

Sure beats kids just sitting around staring at their hand held video games! 

Sunday morning I baked up a cinnamon coffee cake, and we set out with a big pot of coffee for anyone who stopped in.  Nice to have a bit of social camaraderie with folks before they have to pack up and head out.  We even gathered a few names for future camphost positions!

As the campground emptied out, we had a bit of time to run home for a few more things that I forgot the last time.  Making lists helps a lot, but ya know what helps even more?  Remembering to take the lists WITH us when we go there to get the stuff we needed!!!  

Our house seems lonely without us.  Neighbors all greeted us and want to know when we will be back.  The grass is starting to grow, so we should run in to cut it in the next day or two.  Steve hauled two buckets of crushed gravel for in the firepit in our backyard....

 Now we are all set for backyard campfires

(once we get back home from camping?)

While Steve was gathering a few more things, I watered my flowers. I was admiring the tulips and my hydrangeas that all seem to be thriving. I just planted those sprigs of hydrangea last spring and they are really taking off well!

We hopped back in the car and headed back to the campground. Oh oh.. self-inflicted detour!  Sunday night is chicken dinner at High Cliff Supper Club by the golf course. $5.99 for 4pc chicken dinner, mashed taters, stuffing, veggie and a biscuit.  Great deal!   That was our treat for a long weekend of camphosting!


We had HUGE thunderboomers and rain storms last night.  We knew it was coming, and had rolled up our awning and put away our chairs.  I could hear the rain start on the roof about midnight, then the lightening and thunder rolled on in. The dogs mostly slept through it, and didn't seem bothered by it, thank goodness!  (Ducky, our last collie was a quivering mess during thunderstorms and taught Duke the sheltie to be scared too!)

This Monday morning dawned hazy, but was soon bright and sunny. The campfire pits were too wet and soggy for my shovelling out of ashes.  I took the morning off to be lazy, and then did up a quick pan of brownies, bowl of tater salad and packed it up with pickles and buns to bring up to the maintenance shop. They were having a staff meeting and someone was cooking brats on the grill for lunch.  After I delivered my goodies I drove back on the Gator on one of the walking trails through the newly greening woods. Ahhhhhhh

While I was driving, my phone rang, so I turned off the Gator.  While sitting out in this pretty place with sunshine and warmth, I chatted with my daughter Heather for a bit.  How nice is that?  I could be stuck in some stuffy office cubicle, or locked up in a drudgery-laden factory.  But no, instead I am in this fantastic state park, chatting with my family, and having a ball!


This evening, I set up my sewing machine inside for a while and worked on some quilt blocks.  These are going to be more potholders for the kitchen at home.  I have a few projects along to work on, thinking it was going to be a rainy day or two. Always have to have something going on ya know.

We took one more walk around the campground this evening with the doggers on the leash. They are sure enjoying this camphost gig, and are getting better and better at meeting strangers.  Even two basset hounds tonight!  Time to kick back now and watch that David Letterman special.

I Broke My Mule!

OH geesh.... 

first day on the job, 

I broke the Kawasaki Mule!   

Good thing that I know the maintenance man eh?   He came to rescue me.  I knew it was sputtering out like it was starved for fuel.  So he brought me a can of gas.  Nope.. wasn't that. 

Turns out the fuel pump took a crap, and although it's humming and making noise, nothing is getting up to the carburetor.  Thus... no workee....    So he put a tow strap on it and his worker Nick helped tow it back to the shop.

 but the GOOD NEWS is that now 

I get to drive the NEW John Deer Gator!!!! 

and this one has CUPHOLDERS!  

WHEEEEHEEEEEEEE

(the old Mule didn't) 

Now I can cruise in style, sip my coffee in between campfire pits and grill cleaning, and have a vehicle that starts up each time I need it to.  

I got about 50-60 campfire pits cleaned up on Friday, and all of the grills in the upper level parks and picnic areas.  That felt so good to be caught up and get them done in time for the weekend people to enjoy their visit to the park.  The last month's hosts left early in the week, so all the sites needed to be done before the weekend. We were going to be a full park because almost everything was reserved in the new loop, and a lot of the sites in the old loop were filling up too.  Whew! By 2 p.m. I got back to the motorhome and showered off a few layers of ashes and dust.  Then I was able to get in a quick nap before it was time to pick up Steve from his normal shift of 8-4.  

Our Friday evening was the enjoyable entertainment of folks coming in, eager to get onto their campsites and set up for the weekend.  The guy next to use backed his huge fifth wheel in with ease in one try.  You could tell he has done that a few times!  We told him so, and complimented his skill.  

Others were setting up around us, and each time we looked up, another huge rig was rolling in down the hill past our host site. It's almost like big schooners cruising past...  and the people are so smiley and happy and in a great mood to be camping!  The weather is just about perfect on Friday, in the high 60's   

Saturday was even better!!! It got up into the high 70's!  What amazing weather for May!   I wanted to get a few more grills cleaned in the lower level park picnic areas, but the may flies hatching are pretty thick down there. Not sure how many people planned to picnic down there, but at least I got the rest done like I planned.  While I was doing that, Steve happened to pop into the office to bring in some late night arrival sheets.. and it was SO busy that he helped at the office counter and drive up window for a few hours!   (It's his day off ya know)  But when people need help, Steveio is always there for his fellow workers.  What a guy! 

We came back to the motorhome where the doggers were patiently waiting for us.  They are really being good inside the motorhome with the shades drawn and the tv turned up to drown out any outside noises that might incite them to bark.  

We took them for a nice walk around the park, along the cliff edge, through the park along the stone fenceline and back to our campsite again. 

Binney is learning to walk on the long flexi leads instead of just a short leash.  We never use these long leashes when walking on sidewalks in town.  Having such a long line to wander on, it is a new thing for her. It's another form of  "freedom" for her to gain confidence and walk ahead of us a bit instead of meekly following us at our heels. With Binney we have to take baby steps, and introduce her to new experiences, one thing at a time.  

It was a good little walk to tire them out and rest again for the afternoon.  Binney was the FIRST one to turn up the walk into our campsite!  I think she followed her own scent home. That is a good sign if she ever got loose, we would hope she could find her way back?

This afternoon, I was setting back in my recliner chair, eyes closed, listening to "the campground sounds"  ... a lot of same noises we have heard for years and years. Every park sounds almost the same.  My childhood was spent on Chicaugon Lake at Pentoga Park. Our family would spend the entire summers in the campground, on site number 50.  My father helped with the final rounds and some repairs in the park, and got a break on our lot rent.  It was a great way to spend the summers... each weekend meeting new friends on Fridays and saying good bye on Sundays. Sometimes families stayed all week. A few local families like the Bowmans and Lantanges spent all summer with us too... all in row of campsites.  

Yup.. our whole family would camp in that little Mayfair travel trailer. 

2 adults, 5 kids, 1 dog and 1 cat.  

My sister and I had a little green tent out behind the trailer, and we could have friends from town come and spend the night with us.  Lots of times my little brothers would sleep in the back of the pickup truck instead of in the camper. 

We also had a boat that we could go waterskiing almost every day.  All of our friends came to learn to ski too.  We were the "happening" campsite of the lake!  Ahhhh those were the days! 

Today I was drawn back to those days... listening to the sounds here in this park on a sleepy Saturday afternoon.  The sounds were just about the same as I laid there with my eyes closed. I could almost imagine myself there.  The only absence was the droning of the motorboats or jet skis out on the lake....  At Pentoga Park that was a constant background noise.  

Ahhhh now you know why I like camping??

Later this afternoon, we dashed back home for a few things...  We are replacing the regular hosts scheduled for May because of a medical family emergency. They left a message today that they may not make it to the park until May 12th.  Steve needed to get some more clean work clothes for the next week, and I grabbed more food from the freezer and a few of my fiber projects I am working on. 

We are due for some rain and bad thunderstorms tomorrow night.  Glad it will be after the weekend folks go home, so everyone has a good time and doesn't run into bad weather while packing up or heading out. 

Meanwhile, we can hunker down in a quiet campground again for the week...  I only see about 10 sites reserved for the weekdays.  I can get some of the campfire pits cleaned a few each day instead of a whole bunch at once. 

Well, it's late now, 

our campfire flames died down, 

Steveio is off to bed 

so I better hit "publish" 

and get this done. 

A Day In the Life of a Camp Host

I added a little section to Wednesday night's blog....  but I will repeat it again this morning.  We decided to finish loading up the motorhome and headed out to the park on Wednesday night and arrived about 7 pm.  Ahhhh that's better....

NOW WE ARE CAMPING! 

Thursday morning, after sipping our coffee and having some breakfast, Steve had to get out and about with his work as usual. It's a normal workday for him as Facilities Maintenance Specialist Advanced.....  ahem, it's a fancy title, but in reality, he is the only full time maintenance worker in the whole park! LOL   He does get some short term workers in the summer months to help with cleaning and projects. Mostly, it's all on him to get the stuff done. 

Here is a bit of what kind of fun toys he gets to play with:

This kiosk sign from another area is going to be repurposed and used at the camp host site for information and brochures for the campers.  Steve had to dig two deep holes for the legs.  Rut Roh, the dirt only goes down about 20 inches or so before hitting limestone bedrock of the Niagara Escarpment.  Ain't no digging deeper!

Plan B.... He will now have to cut the legs off shorter, dig out a big rectangle of dirt, set a frame around it, prop up the sign with guide boards to keep it level, and then pour in cement around the legs to hold it into place. Argggh what should have been a 15 minute job will now be a lot more.  So is the life of a Facilities Maintenance Specialist Advanced, eh? 

I got our campsite set up....      

Of course the doggers helped me!~ 

We put extra chairs around the campfire pit

for visitors or patrons coming to ask questions

I rolled the awning out and hung up the lights and do dads.... 

Whirly gig thing from daughter Erin runs on a battery and twirls in the sunlight

I put the flags out on the front of the rig to show our patriotism,

and our little sign from daughter Erin to welcome folks...

Here are our lawn chair recliners, each with it's own little tray now in place.

Between our chairs is our tote box full of camphost information. 

As a host, we are here to be ambassadors the park, and have local information and park brochures and handouts at the ready for folks in the park.  We have 112 campsites, a handicapped cabin, and 8 large group sites able to accommodate 40-60 people on each one.  Whew!  This is our main reason for being in the park as camp hosts at High Cliff State Park.  

Our other main task is to clean out the firepits and grill units around the park grounds.  For this, we get a fun toy to drive around the park.  We are trained and certified to drive it before we can become a campground host.  

Here is my fun toy, a "mule" ......    

This can be driven around to haul the ashes in metal buckets in case any are still warm.  I bring back my loads to this little cart and dump them into the bigger cans.  Later, Steve helps me dump the big cans into the huge dumpster located up at his maintenance shop. 

Of course, we also pick up any trash when and where we see it. 

Enough gabbing now, it's 8 am 

and I need to get out and clean these firepits out....

We got about 12 done together last night after dinner,

but we have a full park expected this weekend.

While Steve is working his normal job, 

 I have about 5 hours to finish up the rest of the campsites that need it. 

Off to work!