Most of the 150 or so campground hosts who are midway through their summers at Minnesota state parks and forests fit a well-documented demographic: retirees with lifestyles that allow them the freedom to travel and to live away from home for extended periods. In fact, a healthy number re-up yearly.
Mirroring workplace shifts coming out of the pandemic, the flexibility of remote work and attention to work-life balance have brought in some fresh faces as hosts. It's welcomed by DNR managers, if too early to call a trend.
Arielle Courtney oversees the program. She thinks recent applicants, like a mother and son who applied to host after school let out for the summer, indicate a growing desire for people to get into the outdoors in more meaningful ways. And the program wants to be ready to meet the moment. Four weeks is the minimum commitment.
"People so desperately want to do some of these bigger things in their life but they are limited by schedules and other commitments," said Courtney, of the Department of Natural Resources' parks and trails division.
The program would welcome an uptick because there is need every season, from April to October, especially at less-visited state parks and forests.
Courtney has affection for return hosts — the foundation of the program. As many as 40% have reapplied for three to five consecutive years, according to a survey a few years ago. A smaller percentage have been doing it longer. The relationships built with campers account for the high rate, she said.
"Volunteering is just an interesting way to give back and get a lot of time outside, have fun in the parks," Courtney said.
What follows are vignettes of the experiences of new hosts, as well as of veteran hosts who balanced the role with their working lives before they, too, retired.
Matt, Jackie and Beau Bentzinger: Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, Two Harbors
Matt and Jackie Bentzinger live in Coatesville, Ind., but their hearts are on the North Shore.
Matt, who grew up in southern Iowa, recalled fishing and canoe trips in northern Minnesota. Years on, the two shared an influential visit to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in 2018 and eventually married in 2020 on Honeymoon Bluff off the Gunflint Trail out of Grand Marais.
When a job change shifted his work to remote during the pandemic, Matt said the two considered moving up north. What became more economically feasible was traveling there. They bought a used Class A motorhome in 2022 and checked into the campground host program at parks along Lake Superior.
The Bentzingers, their 12-year-old son Beau, three cats and a dog now are coming off their second tour at Split Rock Lighthouse's Shipwreck Creek campground, which opened in June 2022.
They hosted the month of May the last two years.
"What a great way to be able to spend a month," said Matt, 40, who works in the IT department of an agricultural equipment dealer in Indiana. He brings along a folding desk and monitors and gets reliable Wi-Fi using a Starlink dish.
The family's responsibilities include wiping down shower houses and handling trash, but it sounded like demands are a far second to getting to anchor in a beautiful part of the state. Plus, the couple said, regular time outdoors has benefited Beau, who is autistic.
"It definitely is an environment that he thrives in," his mother said.
Veteran campers, the Bentzingers said they are hoping to host for a longer term in autumn at Split Rock and are considering other parks, too. "If we could feasibly stretch it, we would," said Jackie, 33.
Beth Borgen-Lindberg and Ann Lindberg-Borgen: Frontenac State Park
Several factors have made hosting a good fit for the couple, who took it up during their working lives six years ago and continue now as retirees.
Proximity: The park, north of Lake City along the Mississippi River, is close to their home in Hastings. What's more, Frontenac is closer still to Red Wing, where Beth worked in the school district. She recalled Friday mornings when she would pull their camper to the park before heading to work. Ann, a former chemical health counselor, would pick up the dog and head south after her work day.
Beauty: The park's scenery keeps them coming back. Ann began camping at the park in 2006 and "it became our love-it, go-to campground," said Beth.
Flexibility: The host program's flexible schedule suits them. "It's imperative," Beth said. Sometimes they commit for a month; other times, more.
She added that getting into camping all those years ago helped them appreciate other campers, and that knowledge serves them well as hosts.
"I have learned so much of the hosting thing has to do with relationships … the park visitors, the staff, and the other campers, making them comfortable," Beth said.
Bridget and Cheyenne Mikkola-Rahja: McCarthy Beach State Park, Side Lake, Minn.
Grad school by campfire and virtual meetings with lake views are balances the couple has struck — enthusiastically — as now-recognizable hosts at the popular park on the Iron Range.
Bridget is a high school teacher and Cheyenne works in health care. Both live in Chisholm, about 17 miles south, but when summer arrives their priority is anchoring their 29-foot camper at the Side Lake campground and settling in for a month — or more. They hosted most of May and all of June, and they're set to return for August. They are now happily in their third summer season overall.
Unlike at some parks and forests, getting the gig was competitive for a time. Having camped for extended periods, they realized some campers were staying beyond the two-week maximum. How do we get to be hosts, they asked? Both the Side Lake and Beatrice campgrounds at the park had a history of longtime hosts. The women applied for the role for four or five seasons before breaking through in 2021 after the system was altered to accommodate more hosts. They began at Side Lake, took a stint at a campground in Ashland, Wis., and then returned for a month at Beatrice.
"It was absolutely wild and chaotic, and we loved it," Cheyenne said.
Working jobs and hosting campers had a learning curve. Beatrice is the rustic of the two campgrounds and lacks electricity, forcing well-timed use of generators to power their electronics and not disrupt camping neighbors. Cheyenne recalled at one point sitting in a vehicle to charge her laptop. Plus, their golden retriever Charli was suffering in the heat. Running air conditioning was out of the question.
Both laugh in recalling their initiation — a step toward fulfilling what they now see as a dream position.
"I feel like every day is a new adventure," Bridget said. "You have new people coming in. You have returning folks. You have some people we have met our first year … you look forward to seeing them. The other piece is being a part of, watching and participating in something joyful."
Cheyenne said they love being ambassadors for the area and are hoping their story inspires others to consider hosting elsewhere.
"It is never lost on us that we have the amazing luck of living with this beautiful place within distance of our backyard and being able to share that with people."
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