Dream job: Ensuring enjoyable state park camping trips for others

Near the banks of the St. Croix River, far from any major thoroughfare, Allen and Marge Bjerke sit outside their camper in matching rocking chairs; a log serves as an ottoman at her feet. The couple often spends afternoons here, miles from the bustle of the Twin Cities, a place where the crackling of a campfire and the chirping birds are the only perceptible sounds.

The Riverway Campground at William O'Brien State Park was once a vacationing spot for the Bjerkes, a place they brought their young son for the first time 50 years ago. Now, for six months each year, it's home.

From May through the end of October when the campgrounds close, the Bjerkes, both retired, serve as campground hosts at the site in Marine on St. Croix. It's a volunteer position available at 75 Minnesota state parks. The mission of campground hosts, a program that has thrived in the state park system since 1981, is to help visitors with day-to-day problems they might have at their campsites, assist with outdoors programs and help ensure visitors have a positive experience.

It's a job the Bjerkes, native Minnesotans and lifelong camping enthusiasts, feel privileged to do.

"We're retired and we had nothing to tie us down," said Allen Bjerke, who has hosted since 2007. "So we said, 'Sure, why not?' "

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During the offseason the Bjerkes live in Minnetonka, about an hour's drive from William O'Brien State Park. While they're hosting, home is a 25-foot fifth-wheel camper.

"This is kind of like our cabin," Allen Bjerke said, showing off the amenities inside the mobile home. "Except we don't have to cut the grass or pay taxes."

The Bjerkes, married 52 years, saw camping as a more economical way to take family vacations when their two children were growing up. Since then, it's become their hobby. In the 1980s, the Bjerkes spent two years visiting all 63 Minnesota state parks that existed then. A plaque denoting that feat now sits above Marge's desk at their Minnetonka home.

While vacationing, the Bjerkes noticed the campground hosts at the places they stayed, and Allen said it became their dream job once they retired. Allen, who went to electronics school in Minneapolis, spent much of his career working for AMF, specializing in automatic pinsetters at bowling centers. Once he decided to call it quits, the Bjerkes wasted no time in applying to be state park hosts.

A job that started as a three-month obligation at three different state parks soon turned into a season-long position at William O'Brien State Park. The Bjerkes return to Minnetonka on Monday morning every week to mow the lawn, do laundry and buy groceries. By Wednesday morning, they're back at camp.

Six months is a long time to be away, and when October rolls around, Marge said, they're ready to spend the holidays at their primary home. But camping doesn't stay out of mind for long.

"By March, I'm getting antsy to think about what I want to put in the camper and get back out here," Marge said.

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The approximately 250 campground hosts who volunteer in Minnesota are asked to perform a number of tasks, including checking on bathroom facilities and cleaning campsites. But their biggest duty is lending a helping hand when it's needed.

A background in electronics and decades of camping experience have helped Allen Bjerke solve a variety of problems visitors have. He has the art of backing a camper into a tight campsite down to a science, and has even been known to jump in the driver's seat to help people pull into their spots.

The Bjerkes have shown people how to pitch tents and fill bike tires. And they are always equipped with camping necessities, from matches to can openers, that park visitors often forget.

Sometimes, hosts have found themselves in situations a little more dire.

Like the Bjerkes, Diane and Rick Nerud have been state park hosts since 2007, putting in three months of work each summer at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park in Nerstrand and Sakatah Lake State Park in Waterville.

During Memorial Day weekend in 2012, a terrible storm hit the campgrounds at Nerstrand Big Woods, and hail caused damage to surrounding campers. Diane said her husband immediately put on a rain suit and ran around the grounds with the park manager, making sure the visitors were OK.

"We survived that," Diane Nerud said. "You just do what you have to do to make people safe."

Whether or not visitors to their campgrounds are in need, the Neruds and the Bjerkes say they simply enjoy meeting the people who visit the parks. Marge Bjerke has what she calls her "east-side friends," people she has bonded with who return every year.

The Bjerkes frequently encounter visitors who have interesting backgrounds and professions, including a Twins pitcher who stayed at the grounds with his son several years ago.

One afternoon, Allen sat outside and strummed on a banjo he had just started learning how to play while Marge took a nap inside the camper. A man staying at the grounds passed by and struck up a conversation, and Allen was tickled to discover the visitor was a retired guitarist from the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra.

"He started playing that thing and it just sounded fantastic," Allen said. "[Marge] wakes up from her nap, pokes her head out the door and she says, 'How long did I sleep?' "

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Free camping and electricity are the only payments the Bjerkes receive for hosting. That, along with the joy that comes with the constant flow of new visitors, is more than enough compensation for fulfilling their responsibilities, Allen said.

Diane Hedin, the naturalist at William O'Brien State Park for 23 years, beams when she talks about the Bjerkes and what they mean to the park.

"Last year they took part of the summer off, and they were totally missed," Hedin said. "People were asking, 'What happened to Al and Marge?' "

Both the Neruds and the Bjerkes became campground hosts because of their lifelong love of camping. But for both couples, enjoying that hobby isn't even their favorite part of the job.

Being in the outdoors might have attracted them to campground hosting initially, but the visitors — the people they had once been — keep them coming back to stay, year after year.