Living in a state park: Texas State Parks Park Host program

For the last two and a half months we've been living in a state park just south of Dallas, Texas for free... yes, for free! How in the world did we get this to work?

We joined the Cedar Hill State Park family in mid-January as park hosts. This work-trade-style program allows applicants to receive a full hook-up campsite in exchange for 24 hours of work per week.

Here's our experience in this new season of vanlife!

Who are park hosts?*

Park hosts are volunteers who volunteer a pre-specified number of hours in exchange for a campsite. Volunteer hours may look different depending on the campground/park and the visitation. Park hosts are treated like employees, except they do not receive any pay check. In Texas, most of the state parks have park hosts volunteering either in the headquarters doing guest services or doing maintenance around the park. We do not have any law enforcement abilities or responsibilities. Our park allows us to disclose or remain a secret from guests that we are park hosts while we are off duty.

What do park hosts do?

Our responsibilities as park hosts are actually quite simple. Madi is the primary volunteer right now, though Adam is looking to take over some of the duties in the fall while Madi goes back to campus for classes. Madi works 24 hours in headquarters at the front of the park. Up there, park hosts answer phone calls, address guest inquiries and concerns, sell passes, and check in reservations. The park has been super flexible to Madi's school schedule and has scheduled all her volunteer hours around her school/TA hours. They even give her off on Mondays, the only week day she doesn't have class. She works one weekend day each week, a requirement of the HQ park hosts.

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What are our favorite parts about being park hosts?

We've loved our park host experience at Cedar Hill State Park. These are the top reasons we've liked this stationary experience:

1. While we don't need shore power, it's been nice to have that option if our batteries are low on charge or if we need to run a larger appliance (i.e. the heater in early February).

2. We have a great site with plenty of space for our bikes, hammock, slackline, clothes line, Acadia to run around, and we even have a firepit for the occasional campfire. This has been a huge change for us. We have come to appreciate the ability to move outside and cook or relax in the hammock without having to set up a bunch of equipment and tear it down at the end of the night.

3. We love the flexibility and stationary aspects of being park hosts! Madi can request time off if we want to take an extended trip, as long as it is in advance of the time off. We also have enough days off that we can travel locally for multiple days at a time. We've been able to visit multiple other state parks for day trips, but we also know that we have a home base when the trip is over. It's nice to have a place to spread our gear out when we're packing and to unload our gear after a trip. We've left our bikes locked at our site when we would have otherwise had to pack them in the van and take them to wherever we're going.

4. And of course, we love the people we get to work with! We've met some great full-time RV park hosts who share their traveling and mobile living wisdom with us. These people are connections we'll maintain well into the future as we continue traveling. The park hosts and employees at Cedar Hill State Park have been a great support system and social team to be a part of while we're down in Texas. We've also met great mentors and role models in other traveling couples that come through the park as guests. (One of our favorite parts of vanlife in general is meeting other people who live (or travel) with the mindset of little stuff=lots of freedom.)

* There are a surprising number of state, national, and local campgrounds and parks that have a similar program to the one we are a part of. If you are interested in park hosting in your area, we suggest a quick Google search starting with state parks. Here is more about the Texas State Parks Park Host program if this neck of the woods interests you: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/help-parks/park-host