1 )Contract Violations
What would cause a campground host to be frustrated? Before a camphost accepts a position at a campground, they negotiate a contract with the employing company, RV Park owner, state, or county. When these contracts are violated, they can be very frustrating for the camphost. This could be as simple as being asked to work hours that not in the contract, grounds work that the employee is physically incapable of doing, or being promised a full hook up (FHU) site, that is in fact, not full hook up. An example of a full hook up violation was at a campground that I worked at, that did not have an actual sewer hook up for the camphost. The employer remedied that situation by providing a macerator pump with a 75-foot garden hose to dump into a vault toilet, it worked but it was not what was promised.
2) Other Work Campers
It is not surprising that you get all kinds in this industry, workers who do the job as trained and workers who try their best not to do a thing and get paid for it, you wind up doing their job and yours. One worker at campground my wife and I worked at, would not go anywhere without his dog, the dog was his excuse not to do his job. Another employee who did not stay at the campground, never showed up and got paid for it, of course, I did his work. Employees at a campground need to work as a team in order to best service the campers needs, dogs should be left at home.
3) Wanted: Your Fire Dead Out
Unfortunately, ten to fifteen campers per week come to the forest, have a campfire, and either go to bed, go for a hike, or worse, leave for home with a camp fire burning. This angers me as a campground host! In the forest, wind comes up at all hours of the day or night, one spark in the pine needle carpet in a forest campground, can decimate our forest. No one should leave a camp fire until they can safely put their hand into the ashes without getting burned. Learn the principle of Sprinkle, Scatter, Sprinkle. Responsible campers or day use visitors should carry water to put out their fire, or have a shovel to smother the fire with dirt. If they do not have one of these two things, they should not have a fire. It is frustrating for the camphost to have to put an irresponsible campers fire out. I tell everyone that the camphost should only put the fire out in their own site, not an irresponsible persons fire.
4) Pack It In, Pack It Out
When a camper goes to a campground that does not have trash cans provided, they must take their trash home with them. How do you know that there are no trash cans provided? You look up the campground online to see what amenities are provided before you arrive at the campground, and you plan accordingly. Cleaning up after a lazy camper is not my idea of a good time. Campers need to practice the principles of leave no trace.
5) I’m in Love with My Car
Not sure if you follow the band, Queen, but they had a song named, “I’m in Love with My Car”. Vehicles in a U.S. Forest campground are to be on the asphalt at all times. In a forest campground, a hot engine over the pine needle carpet could cause a fire. If your vehicle does not fully fit into the site and the camphost asked you to park it in overflow or to pay for another site to park it at, do it. US Forest campgrounds have barriers to keep vehicles on the asphalt, but campers take these out so they can have their precious vehicle next to them at all times, and to add insult to injury, they burn the creosoted (cancer causing when burned) barriers.
Camphosting allows a person to live and work in nature. Unfortunately, there are many frustrations that can steal your enjoyment of hosting. Just a few of which are contract violations, fellow employees that do not pull their weight, abandoned fires, micro trash clean up, and vehicles that are not parked correctly.
