At 68, Armon Duford has hit on a lifestyle that suits him to a tee. The former Pownal resident, retired from his long career as an elementary school custodian, now spends his summers on the coast of Maine and his winters near Tampa Bay. He socializes casually with people from all over the world, spends a lot of time in the great outdoors and tinkers to his heart’s content.
Duford, like thousands of other retirees across the country, is a volunteer campground host. In exchange for a free campsite at Lamoine State Park for the whole season, he stacks brush, patches the gravel roadways, helps travelers set up their campsites, cleans the shower-house, mows the grass, offers advice on local activities — pretty much whatever needs to be done.
“I know all about everything because I’ve done everything,” he said, justifiably proud of his jack-of-all-trades status.
In the fall, when the weather turns chilly, Duford will hitch up his fifth-wheel camper to his vintage pickup truck and head south, visiting with family and friends on his way to Little Manatee River State Park in Florida, where he’ll spend the winter in much the same way.
It’s a lifestyle that’s growing in popularity with the aging of the baby boom generation, according to Matt McGuire, coordinator of the statewide volunteer campground host program for the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands. Not all of them are year-rounders like Duford; many return to their homes after a season of camping. But they share a passion for the outdoor life and the opportunity to serve.
“We see a lot of retirees — baby boomers who are active and like to be outdoors,” he said. From late April through mid-October, volunteer hosts keep Maine’s state park campgrounds running smoothly.
“They are a big asset for us,” McGuire said. “At this point, we really couldn’t do without them.”
Campground hosts: ‘The face of the park’
Most states have a volunteer host program, encouraging campers from within their borders and across the country to contribute their labor in exchange for an extended stay in a beautiful spot. The National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service also have volunteer campground host programs.
Of the 36 state parks administered by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, 12 provide camping facilities. All of these accept and actively seek volunteer hosts. (This does not include Baxter State Park, which is administered separately and does not offer a volunteer host program.) Hosts are generally expected to stay the entire camping season, though some parks have more flexibility than others.
The total number of positions available fluctuates from park to park and season to season, McGuire said. Popular Sebago Lake State Park in southern Maine, which boasts more than 250 individual campsites and several group sites, typically recruits 10 hosts, he said. Most smaller parks have space for two to four hosts.
“They handle a lot of routine maintenance and cleaning tasks, but they also are the face of the park,” McGuire said. “They answer a lot of questions, conduct nature programs and help resolve small problems. So if they’re sociable and like people, that’s an important asset.”
Typically, individual hosts are expected to work about 20 hours per week, or 30 hours for a couple, he said, but agreements vary from park to park.
Maine parks welcome individuals and couples as campground hosts, McGuire said, and children and well-behaved pets are welcome, except at Sebago Lake State Park, which does not allow pets at all. While hosts interact routinely with other campers, including resolving minor complaints and disputes, any serious problems are handled by park managers or other paid staff. Training is provided in first aid, hazardous materials, customer service, local history and natural features.
“Applications trickle in all winter,” McGuire said, but several Maine parks still have open host positions for the coming season. Lamoine State Park, Camden Hills State Park and Sebago Lake State Park usually fill positions easily, he said. The toughest to fill is at tiny Warren Island State Park in Penobscot Bay, which can only be reached by private boat and is uncomfortably remote for some volunteers.
Filling an essential role
Lamoine State Park provides sites for three volunteer hosts, said park manager Charlene “Sunshine” Hood. Unlike most sites at Lamoine, they include hookups for water and electricity. She seldom has trouble keeping them filled throughout the park’s busy season.
“We could not make it without our volunteers,” said Hood. With 62 individual sites for tents and campers, and two large group sites, she said, there’s more work than her regular staff can handle. Volunteer hosts like Dufour pick up the loose ends and let her regular staff focus on big-picture projects, like building the new boat launch in the park.
Hood also manages another public boat launch, at Branch Lake in Ellsworth. While the facility doesn’t include a public campground, it is staffed by volunteers who conduct mandatory checks for milfoil and other invasive aquatic species, clean the public toilet and pick up trash on the nearby swimming beach. In return, they get to set up their campers for the summer on one of three spacious sites in a private area near the launch.
Vera and Warren Dowling of Hancock are preparing to spend their second summer as volunteer hosts at the Branch Lake boat launch. They also have hosted at Lamoine State Park. Vera, 70, would be glad to venture farther afield through the campground host program; she has her eye on Lily Bay State Park on Moosehead Lake. But Warren, 61 and retired after a work-related injury, prefers to stay closer to home, so he can tend to their house and lawn as well as his duties at the boat launch.
“You make new friends,” Vera Dowling said of the host program. Last year, they became acquainted with a couple from Florida who co-hosted at the boat launch. “They’re on their way to a park in Arizona now,” she said. She sounded a little wistful.
As she looks forward to her summer on the lake, Vera said, she is pleased to be serving her home state through the host program.
“I take pride in cleaning the outhouse and picking up the beach,” she said. “I really take pride in whatever we do. This is our state, and I’m proud to represent it.”
Over in the mountains of western Maine, Mount Blue State Park also relies on volunteer campground hosts to take care of routine tasks like cleaning, mowing and staffing the nature center.
“We take advantage of whatever knowledge and skills they have,” said park manager Bruce Farnham. He keeps three sites open for volunteer hosts. One is reserved for a local camper who, like Armon Duford, has been coming back for several years. The second site changes each year; Farnham selects from a stack of applications filled out online. The third site he typically fills with someone who comes early in the season and spontaneously decides to stay on for several weeks or through the whole season.
“Most of our hosts are retired,” he said, “but we also get a lot of teachers and other folks who are still working but have the summers off.”
Ready for another summer
For Armon Duford, the camping season at Lamoine State Park is already off to a good start. He’s been on site since the middle of April, and the campground is just about ready to welcome guests to another summer on the coast of Maine.
“I’ve camped at every state park in Maine, but this one is the best,” Duford said with a proprietary air. He appreciates the park’s rolling terrain, the mix of forest and open field, the salt air and sandy beach and, especially, the fine views across Eastern Bay to the rugged mountains of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park. It’s kept him coming back for seven seasons as a volunteer host.
His 24-foot recreational vehicle provides all the comforts of home and he lives comfortably on his modest retirement income. It’s a lifestyle he hopes to continue for years to come.
“I’m a full-time RV-er now,” he said. “This is the best way to retire.”
Volunteer campground host positions are still being filled for the coming season at parks in Maine. For more information or to apply online, visit the website of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, http://www.maine.gov/dacf.
