The Greatest "Job" in the world!

"Main St" Sprague Creek. 

Those readers who know and/or follow me have often heard me make two statements "it is so much fun it is hard to call it work," and "we are honored and proud to be a part of the National Park Service."

Sprague Creek Campground. 

Sprague Creek Campground is the only campground at Glacier where the hosts have to be up by a certain time to open a gate. Each morning we roll out of bed in time to open the gate by 7am.  Since we're up we go ahead and do our first rounds. From then until noon or 1pm we will be busy helping campers get off on their adventures, introducing ourselves to our guests, teaching new campers about camping in the wilderness, and answering a plethora of questions.  Technically it is work, and actually it can be hard work, but for us it is our "people fix". We spent a few weeks working at a large campground where we didn't have this concentrated contact with the campers and it was like withdrawal.

Sprague Creek is very much in demand. It is a first-come campground, so it is not uncommon for there to be people sitting in their cars any time after 6am watching for someone to leave. This means that we are usually full by noon.  Between being full - therefore no new arrivals - and the fact that almost all of our campers will spend their days hiking, biking, kayaking or other adventures, we are free to have our own adventure.

In a short while this area will be filled with cyclist biking
across the US and just having come from the mountain pass.
They sleep in hammocks, small tents or under tarps.

We return home around dinner time. This is when our campers are returning and will be having questions. We will "work" from around 5pm until time to close the gate at 9pm. Sometimes we are called out after 9pm but that's not very common.  Our average work day is 9 hours long, but, as I've so often said, it is so much fun that it is hard to call it work.

The reason that we don't usually get called out after 9pm is that most of the campers are asleep by then or shortly thereafter. When you get up early, hike or bike or kayak all day, you are usually ready for bed early as well.

Campers gathered to share their adventures at days end.

Because it is more primitive - no trailers or large RVs allowed - Sprague Creek is popular among those who want to get away, serious campers, and world travelers.  By the end of May we will have hosted people who refer to themselves as "travelers" from ten to twelve different countries. We had a young woman who left home after college at age 21 to travel before settling down. She was 35 years old, had hiked and camped on every continent except Antarctica and hadn't been home yet. We had a family from France who had cycled from New York, heading to Alaska, with their two young children.  Then there was the couple my age (almost 70) who had dipped their toes in the Atlantic in February, climbed on their bikes, and were camping with us in May.

Sometimes it's just nice to sit and read. 

Pamela loves to teach the children and the children love her. When she takes them around the campground on mini-nature hikes there are always a few adults following along. Educating and making the campers' experience as profound as possible is one of our goals.  We also get the opportunity to help a lot of new campers learn about how to enjoy life in the wilderness as well as help experienced campers and back-country enthusiast plan their next adventure.

Lastly, but very far from least, we play an important part in the preservation and conservation of the wilderness. We do this by helping campers enjoy their stay without doing un-repairable damage to the environment as well as teaching conservation and environmentally friendly ways to enjoy the wilderness around them. We help people understand why we have certain rules and how to interact with wildlife they encounter.  This is important when you have all sorts of wildlife, including bears, roam through your campground from time to time.

If you want the greatest "job" in the world, ... want to do a great service to your country and the environment, ... want to help people really see and enjoy the wonders of the wilderness, you really want to visit www.volunteer.gov and make an application to become a National Park Service volunteer.

ALSO VISIT ME AT  www.facebook.com/old.conservationist