We spent the month of July as a camp hosts at Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park. It was gorgeous and a new experience. Camp hosting is a volunteer position – in exchange for your services, you get a free spot at the state park. Anyone who has tried camping at a state park since COVID hit knows getting those sites is nearly impossible, so what a great way to stay longer than the typical two weeks allowed and save money on gas prices and camping fees.

Nerstrand is just outside of Northfield, where Jamey went to St. Olaf College. So in addition to a new experience, it was also a chance for him to take a walk down memory lane.

Responsibilities

Since they don’t give out this huge, full-hook up site for nothing, we obviously had to pull our weight. The DNR employees were super friendly and laid back, allowing us to really decide how much we wanted to commit to doing. We had to keep the sanitation building (bathrooms and showers) clean, and assist other campers with directions and point them to the firewood. It was pretty low key.

The bathrooms there are so nice and so clean! If you read the reviews of Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park campgrounds, everyone talks about how clean the restrooms are, so it was important we help maintain that reputation. It wasn’t hard, it just required 2-3 checks and cleans each day. I don’t understand why more places can’t make this minimum commitment. I’ll look askance at every campground bathroom now.

Mostly our days consisted of a team bathroom cleaning first thing in the morning, I’d do a light clean around noon, and another team clean around 5 or 6 pm. We wiped the counters and toilets, stocked toilet paper and soap, emptied the trash, swept and mopped. It took maybe 15 minutes each time. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeasy.

Learnings

• While this was a pretty low-key, low expectations job, there were still times it was more than we wanted to do. I was working full time from the camper, and Jamey was driving about 30 minutes from Nerstrand to the south metro to work, in addition to going to Woodbury to coach twice each week for summer basketball practice. Keeping the bathrooms clean was easy, but at the end of a long day, sitting outside to be available to talk to our fellow campers was more peopling than either of us felt up to doing some days.

• Cleaning the bathrooms was pretty easy and rarely gross. But surprisingly the women’s restroom was always messier. The men’s toilets were sometimes … yuckier, but overall the ladies room bathroom trash had to be emptied more frequently, toilet paper was all over the floors, food and toothpaste piles were more common in the sinks and clumps of hair were left everywhere. I assume half of the reason is because mom’s do more – more diapers, more family trash, kids going with mom instead of dad, the list goes on.

• Climate change has real effects locally. Some old trees in the Nerstrand Big Woods forest were dying because the rainfall patterns have changed. The DNR is working on solutions, but it is sad to know such majesty may be forever lost. The drought had a dramatic effect on the waterfall and turned it into a trickle.

• People are weird. One tent camper brought a food dehydrator and dehydrated lobster every day. Why?? One camper knocked on my door to ask a question, peeked around me to get a view inside and said “Wow, this is really nice. You own this?” (Did he think it came with the job as host? Was he surprised a gal like me could own it?) The park had a sign as soon as you come in stating “No intoxicating beverages” – of course we didn’t actually expect that was strictly followed, but I was surprised how out in the open everyone was with their alcohol. One guy pulled out some type of industrial bug fogger on a busy Friday evening and smoked out all his neighbors. Someone left 12 ears of corn in a plastic bag outside of the bathroom for 2 days. I eventually had to toss them to keep the squirrels away. Most people were very polite and thanked for us for such clean bathrooms and apologized for walking into our site to ask a question.

• The campground was built before RVs came with 50 amp electricity and well before the pandemic made camping incredibly popular. The combination of stupid hot weather and full-to-the-gills park meant the power couldn’t meet demands one day. The power kept going out in different rows. As the camp hosts we were the first stop of crabby campers who kept losing power. The kind DNR staff continued to reset the breaker and keep everyone cool. When the park staff puts up notes asking you to please conserve electricity and only run the A/C for limited times, please do as they ask. Your minor inconvenience can prevent everyone from experiencing major frustration.

• The campground was built before many larger RVs existed. While our site was huge, getting into it was a little tricky. There are lots of sites that would not accommodate our reasonable (34 foot) RV let alone a big fifth wheel or motorhome. There are some sites that will fit those monsters, but also be aware the roads are narrow and turns are tight.

Scenes from the month

Northfield

In addition to spending a month in the state park, we spent a month traveling back in time to Jamey’s old stomping grounds. We had to revisit all the places he used to eat and party and the buildings he took classes in on campus. It was a fun walk down memory lane for him.

It was fun to explore a new-to-me town. Since Nerstrand is just outside of Northfield, of course we visited the local breweries, Imminent Brewing, Chapel Hill and Tanzenwald. I biked around town along the river, and we took in the local farmers market.

Friends and Hikes

The best part about being in Nerstrand Big-Woods State Park was it’s proximity to home, only an hour away from our house and an hour away from our friends in Rochester. So we were able to have some visitors from both places, which was nice! The one real downside of how much time we spend RVing in the summer is we miss out on a lot of things with friends.

Rachel and Lon came to visit, with their dogs Kita and Koa. My friend Peggy came for lunch and a hike. Jamey’s friends Travis and Demetrius came and hung out with us. It was great hosting friends in our fabulous state park.

The park is full of great hiking trails. I enjoyed exploring them all with the dogs and making them do agility on the playground. Until I tripped over a tree root, fell hard and broke two ribs. Only two weeks into our stay. I fell on a Saturday, and tried to knuckle through the pain. I was planning to go home Sunday anyway to do laundry, I just went sooner in the day than planned. It was much easier to deal with the dogs by letting them out into the fenced in yard than walking them 8-10 times each day. By mid-day Monday I couldn’t take it anymore and went to Urgent Care. I stayed home an extra day to rest and Jamey stayed at the camper to deal with our duties. The two days of not having to walk the dogs and the strong prescription pills made a big difference. It’s now almost five weeks post accident and most activities don’t cause excruciating pain. No fun.

In Sum

Would we do this again? Probably! I think it would be great to try another park, just for the new experience. I’m not sure how laidback another park would be, however. When I broke my ribs, everyone was so kind and helpful. The DNR staff assured me if we wanted to just tear down and go home, that would be fine. They stopped by to check if I needed any help. They never complained that we were lounging inside watching TV when we should have been outside and available. They each thanked us multiple times for doing literally anything. They were so appreciative of any help.

If you’ve thought about being a camp host, this is a great way to start. With only a one month commitment it’s a nice way to dip your toes in before committing to an entire summer in one place.