We’ve muttled through camp hosting not really knowing what
we’re doing for several days now. We had
training/orientation Saturday and Sunday.
So now being armed with much information we are ready to tackle Memorial
Day weekend. There are a lot of
reservations for this weekend so it should be interesting. Our
days off are Tuesday and Wednesday.
Other camp host will cover our area and we will cover theirs when they
are off. I have to say the one thing I
don’t like about Colorado and Texas State Parks is that they charge to camp and
charge an additional day use fee. Electric
sites are $22 and FHU are $26 then you have to buy a day use permit to put in
your vehicle, that makes one night $29 to $33 depending on the hookup you
have. Pricey. Campers are often angry because they didn’t
know they have to also pay the $7 day use fee.
Can’t say I blame them. Seems
they could roll that into the camp site fee.
But you do have the option of paying $70 for an annual permit. Saves you money if you camp more than 2 weeks
a year at Colorado State Parks. After we
work 40 hours they will give us a free annual pass.
I have worked at the visitor’s center twice now. They sell a lot of licenses. Fishing license, hunting, boat and ATV titles
and registrations, different types of camping permits depending on your age,
military status, disability, etc. It all
gets very confusing. They also rent
group event areas, boat slips (they have a marina) and dry storage. Yikes, a lot to remember. All reservations are made online or by phone
with Reserve America. They charge
another $10 to make those reservations, but you can’t call the park to make the
reservations directly. Geez, more
money. I was hoping to get experience
with reservation software to add to my resume.
So far I’m not liking working at the visitors center much. Although I do get to meet a lot of the staff
and rangers that way. I would feel
disconnected from the Park if I didn't get to know the staff and
volunteers. Yesterday I got to go around
with the head Park Ranger to post reservation permits on sites. She’s a very nice young woman who’s very
passionate about her job. It was a
beautiful day and got me out of the office for awhile.
I look around and see the beautiful mountains with taller snow
capped mountains in the background, the turquoise water of Ridgway Reservoir
and can’t believe it’s real. It looks like
a painting I could just reach out and touch.
For wildlife we have a lot of deer and chipmunks in the park, a few
rabbits and a bear was spotted in our loop of the park a few days ago. And lots of blue birds that are just gorgeous. Today we're off work and will make a trip into Montrose to shop and see what we can get into.
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