CA State Parks Intern

Setting: Calaveras Big Trees State Park
Pros: Amazing housing, great staff, plenty of freedom, challenging work, great exploring
Cons: Terrible pay ($150/month), must love solitude

This was my first park-related job, in the Western Sierras, near the little town of Arnold, Ca. Calaveras is the county Mark Twain made famous with his Notorious Jumping Frog.

The Park is beautiful, featuring some of the biggest giant sequoias in the world. It's biggest attraction is, sadly, the world's biggest stump, but it's a nice piece of history (they used to hold dances on it). The area has plenty of exploring to do, including some of the most beautiful mountain lakes I've ever seen. The park is at about 5000 feet. I didn't have a car, but I met so many friendly people that it was never a problem.

I had a great time here - I was an intern. Initially, the internship was supposed to give me an overview of all the park departments and operations, but as it turned out, they needed someone else to do interpretation. So, with no experience, I put together nature walks, Junior Ranger (and Cub) programs, and campfire talks, in a learn-as-I-go manner. I was lucky to have an enthusiastic partner with little more experience than myself, and one Ranger in particular that was always there for support. My programs were successful, generally, and by the end of the summer I felt pretty confident in interpretation. I went on to learn more interpretation formalities in later years, but this first summer of experiential learning was excellent.

My living quarters were out-of-this-world, and free, since I was an intern. They gave me a cabin in the woods that was beyond anything I could have hoped for. On my days off I would bike down the road and get groceries, hauling them back up about 2000 vertical feet - it took a month of training before I could go all the way up with no rests. There was lots of solitude, which I very much enjoyed.

The great living situation made up for the terrible pay - $150/week stipend for 40 hrs./week. Interns deserve more. Still, it was well worth it.

Welcome to the Parks Jobs Experience!

Hi!

This blog is for anyone who has ever worked a park-type job (NPS, State Parks, Forest Service, etc.), so that we may have a chance to share our stories, and so that anyone who wants to work at a park can have some idea of what they're getting into.

Say you're currently applying for a Visitor Use Assistant job up at Glacier Bay National Park, and you've been thinking it would be nice to find someone who's done the job before so they could answer your questions: was it amazing? was the visitor center boring? did you see grizzlies? etc. This is the place to share and find those answers.

So, please, share your stories here! If you see a position you've had as a heading, record your experience as a comment, or email galenjoel@gmail.com to become an author on this blog. Be honest about your experiences, and if you have something mean to say, please don't name names.

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