Workamping:
Letting
Your RV Work for You
 Jaimie Hall and her husband, Bill, sold
everything and began traveling in their motorhome in 1992. Needing to work, they began
applying for jobs that winter and worked their first summer at Grand Teton National Park.
Since then they have worked at six other national parks. They have also sold Christmas
trees, worked at several tourist-related jobs and taken temporary jobs. Jaimie is the
author of Support Your RV Lifestyle! An Insider's Guide to Working on the Road, many
articles on the subject and most recently co-editor and contributor to RV Traveling Tales:
Women's Journeys on the Open Road. Jaimie is now the editor of Workamper Viewpoint
for Workamper, Inc. (Email: calamityjaimie@earthlink.net)
She writes stories like this one:
Government agencies like the USDA Forest Service offer many
volunteer opportunities. Often when the agency hears you are an RVer they assume you will
be a campground host. While some Workampers are content to be hosts, others would much
prefer to get out and actively explore the area. For two couples, knowing how to use a GPS
(global positioning satellite) device has led to assignments where they are
“paid” to do just that—explore the area.
Paid to paddle
Chuck Flanagan and Elaine Brogden have
volunteered in Deschutes National Forest, in Bend, Oregon, three different summers.
“Pay” is an RV site and stipend, though Chuck and Elaine sometimes work fewer
hours and forego the stipend so they have more freedom to explore. They love the outdoors
and kayaking.
In Deschutes, Chuck and Elaine paddled
the entire perimeter of the very scenic Sparks Lake, looking for remote, paddle-in
campsites. When they located a site, they recorded the GPS coordinates and took a series
of digital photos to document the site. Information like this is valuable for the agency
in justifying its request for funds.
 Another job was to drive every road in a
120-square-mile area, locating "recreation sites." These were dispersed camp
sites/hunter camps (fire rings, meat racks, obvious vehicle use, etc.); areas used for
target practice (lots of brass, broken clays, targets, etc.); trash dump sites (sofas,
clothes washers, and other garbage, etc.). For this project, besides recording the GPS
coordinates and taking digital photos, they also measured and recorded the size of the
site.
Another summer they measured hiking
trails and recorded every man-made feature along its length. While Chuck and Elaine used a
measuring wheel for the actual measurement, they used the GPS as a backup. Additionally,
they used the "tracking" feature of the GPS as they hiked, later downloading the
track into mapping software to produce trail maps.
In Payette National Forest in McCall,
Idaho, Chuck and Elaine assisted a forest engineer in doing the initial layout for a new
road. Using the GPS to locate the starting point (that he'd selected from aerial photos),
they worked their way downslope, measuring the rate of descent with a clinometer and
marking the route with flagging tape and recording the track with the GPS. Later, Chuck
was able to download the track into mapping software and print a map of the proposed road.
Paid to hike
Steve and Pam Ritchie have also found
several volunteer opportunities where they used GPS while pursuing their love of hiking
and exploring the outdoors.
Washington & Jefferson National
Forests in Virginia was their first chance to use GPS. A previous team had located fire
rings within the forest. Steve and Pam now had to go back five years later and find them
and note new ones. They had a GPS device to help, though they were still learning and
couldn’t use all the features yet. By mentioning their experience in
Washington-Jefferson, Pam and Steve got a similar assignment in Tonto National Forest in
Arizona. And it gave them the opportunity to learn more about using GPS.
At Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife
Refuge, Steve and Pam had an assignment where they used a GPS device similar to their own.
As part of a recreational impact monitoring program, they used GPS to locate test plots.
They used a agency vehicle and equipment and went off on their own for several days at a
time. When they approached the test plot, the device would sound an alarm. Then Steve and
Pam inventoried everything—plants, insects tracks, washouts, and changes—in each
30' x 30' plot. They spent two weeks in 2001, and came back for a six-week assignment a
year later. They became experts on their device as well as having the chance to explore
the refuge.
Geocaching—high tech
treasure hunting
Both couples have gotten involved with
geocaching. It’s a great way to get practice using GPS and have a lot of fun. In
Quartzsite, Arizona, Pam Ritchie offered a workshop on using a GPS device at an RV
gathering Bill and I attended. She and Steve helped several of us learn how to do the
basic functions on our own GPS or one of theirs. (As helpful as GPS can be, they advise
always taking along a map and compass and using both as location aids in case your GPS
fails. You might be in a location where you cannot receive enough signals, or your
batteries might die.)
At the end of the session, we were given
coordinates of a treasure hidden in the desert about 500 feet from where we were. The GPS
devices got us within about 15-20 feet of the hidden box. Then it was like an Easter egg
hunt! We looked around until we each spotted it. No one revealed the location until we all
were able to find it. What fun!
With this exercise, Pam and Steve
introduced us to geocaching. Geocaches are hidden all over the world and the Web site
(www.geocaching.com) lists them by geographic area and rates their difficulty. Some are an
easy walk, others require strenuous hiking. They offered to take us on an expedition a few
days later to find a nearby geocache, the “Long Tube.”
The “Long Tube” geocache was
out near the Fisherman Intaglio off Plomosa Road north of Quartzsite, an easy one to start
with. We located the general area on the map and drove out to the location. We had put in
our start location before leaving, and now we had only a few minutes walk to find the
hidden PVC tube. Again, once we got close, we each had to visually search the area. Once
the entire group had spotted the tube tucked into some rocks, we opened it up.
Geocaching etiquette requires that you
take something only if you leave something in return. The fun is not in getting a treasure
but finding each hidden cache. Like a birder, people keep track of how many they find. It
is a fun activity and a good way to learn how to use your GPS device. You’ll find
additional pointers at the geocache Web site.
GPS and you Who would think that an electronic
device you could get you a job? Though the assignments Chuck and Elaine and Pam and Steve
have had were volunteer positions, both couples received an RV site for their efforts, as
well as a stipend to help cover expenses. And they were “paid” for doing what is
recreation to them. Maybe you too can use GPS to “find” a job!
Photos 1. Jaimie Hall
2. Chuck Flanagan & Elaine Brogden
Copyright 2004 by Jaimie Hall, www.rvhometown.com, reprinted with permission from
Workamper Viewpoint, a division or Workamper.com.
Next Steps
Workamper: http://www.workamper.com/WorkamperNews/WNIndex.cfm
Geocaching: www.geocaching.com
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