“Being in a national park is peaceful even when you’re working. It’s peaceful, refreshing and invigorating,” Laurel said.
The couple, who had been living in North Dakota before their move, considered other parks in the DMV, but leaped at the opportunity to live at the park’s Oak Ridge Campground. As lifelong outdoors people, Laurel and Mike said they were excited to learn something new.
“When we were in North Dakota, we learned to winter camp. … When we were stationed out in Arizona, we adopted some wild boroughs, and we learned gold panning. When we got stationed in the Virgin Islands, we learned to scuba dive. When we were stationed at Joint Base Andrews [the first time], before we realized we were next to the Appalachian Trail, and so we learned to backpack,” Laurel said. “… Coming here and doing this is kind of part of our ongoing lifestyle of learning new things everywhere we go.”
And, this arrangement as camp hosts was only supposed to last the summer season. But, Laurel and Mike have found themselves as staples of Oak Ridge Campground for nearly a year now.
“[The park has] to be able to have somebody out here that they trust and can rely on. That’s the reason that they have camp hosts out here, so that … the rangers and the staff don’t have to constantly be out here,” Laurel said. “When they get somebody in here that they trust, they’re happy to let them stay. That’s the way it happened for us.”
The couple said they were happy to stay since they’ve enjoyed their time volunteering at the park. They said each of them is expected to volunteer 32 hours per week — even Mike, who works Monday through Friday at Joint Base Andrews.
Laurel, who is retired military, said the weeks are pretty light for her, but the weekends are when the campground gets busy. Each weekend, the couple has a routine of greeting new campers, making the rounds and cleaning up after campers have left.
“We’ve had people who didn’t know how to make a campfire. I had [a group of male campers] one time, and they didn’t know how to put up their tents, so I helped them all put up their tents, and it was fun,” Laurel recalled. “You know, it’s really fun when you get to help somebody like that. And you can also teach them at the same time, because then it’s obvious that they’re new to camping.”
Mike pointed out that the couple often help campers set up online accounts in order to reserve campsites or help find a signal.
“All reservations are done online now, and so there’s a significant number of people … [that are] challenged with setting up a park account and making a reservation,” he said.
Mike also said there’s magic in Prince William Forest Park since it feels like a hidden gem in the DMV and not a “destination park” like the Grand Canyon or Yosemite.
“This is an opportunity to learn how to camp without driving all the way across the United States or going to one of these major parks,” Mike said. “[Locals can] come here and you’re close enough to a metropolitan area.”
Laurel said they’ve taken on the role as stewards of the park, and hopefully, the National Park System.
“A good way to describe it is — and maybe our boss even told us this — like a gateway park. This is an opportunity for people. We’ve got so many people from different cultures and backgrounds. We get lots of diplomat license plates in here. We get people who don’t speak English,” Laurel said.
The couple said they’ve both grown from their experience as camp hosts and enjoy working together. They encouraged anyone interested in becoming a camp host to take advantage of any opportunity.
“When we take advantage of an opportunity to learn something new, whether we think it’s applicable or useful or not, we never know what the future is going to bring and how that knowledge might come in handy,” Laurel said.
