A Superior National Forest campground host serves many purposes. Beyond maintaining the campground, collecting site fees, and cleaning outhouses, campground hosts serve as tour guides, fishing gurus, and, most importantly, a welcoming presence in a remote setting.
Many Superior National Forest campground hosts, like Jack Davis and Suz Sullivan, are retired individuals who share a deep love for the northern Minnesota landscape and thoroughly enjoy meeting and helping others.
“I get to meet people from all over the world,” said Sullivan, a campground host at Sawbill Lake Campground at the end of the Sawbill Trail. “And being a campground host, I get to be in the Boundary Waters. So for me, that’s fun.”
Sullivan, who lives in Maryland, began visiting Sawbill Lake and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in the early 1990s. Two years ago, after seeing a request for a campground host in the Sawbill Canoe Outfitters newsletter, she decided it was time to return to the vast northern Minnesota landscape and spend her summers as a campground host near the BWCAW.
She instantly fell in love with the owners and staff at Sawbill Canoe Outfitters and, ultimately, the campground host experience. She recently returned for a second summer with her two Irish Setters, 4-year-old Mariah and 12-year-old Atticus.
“Atticus is a campground host, too,” Sullivan said. He often greets incoming families and campers via the golf cart and keeps the kids occupied on slow summer days. “The kids are always loving on him. He lives for this.”
When Atticus isn’t keeping the kids’ company, he joins Sullivan on her daily campground host tasks. Each day, she begins her rounds at 6 a.m., starting with the dirtiest job first: cleaning the pit toilets. “There are 11 bathrooms, which are really gross,” Sullivan said. “But I mean, it’s part of the job.” Then, she transitions to checking reservations, cleaning the sites for the day’s arrivals, and answering questions from fellow campers.
Sullivan enjoys the slow-paced environment. When she is caught up on her morning campground hosting tasks, she frequently heads out on Sawbill Lake for a fishing adventure. When she needs a change of scenery or a delicious lunch from the Taste of India Spice and Curry food truck, she drives nearly 50 miles into Grand Marais.
Approximately 14 miles southeast of Sullivan, at Crescent Lake Campground, is 75-year-old Davis, another retired campground host. Like Sullivan, Davis grew up visiting the area with his family each summer. “My mom and dad found this place in the early 1960s,” he said.
In his 10th year as the Crescent Lake campground host, Davis also enjoys the slower-paced summer lifestyle. Each summer, he travels from Bloomington, Indiana, to Crescent Lake with his 3-year-old black Lab and co-campground host, Reggie. The two enjoy spending their days maintaining the campground and reeling in walleyes. “I just love Minnesota,” he said. “I like to go fishing all the time.”
Davis typically starts his day at 8 a.m. with breakfast and some quality fetch time with Reggie. Then, by early afternoon, he makes the campground rounds to check in newly arrived campers and clean the toilets. His day frequently involves answering questions about hiking nearby Eagle Mountain, or directing people with unfortunate fish hook accidents to the emergency room in Grand Marais.
When his responsibilities are complete, and the fish bite isn’t hot, Davis heads into Grand Marais to do laundry, grocery shop, or restock on supplies.
Throughout his extensive tenure as the Crescent Lake campground host, Davis has developed a handful of close friendships with returning campers. Each summer, he looks forward to catching up in person with friends from the Twin Cities or Cloquet rather than via email or text. Although there are multiple returning ‘regulars’ each year, Davis said, he enjoys seeing more inexperienced campers try something new. “I just try to help them out, to make life easier for them while they’re camping.”
Crescent Lake Campground and Sawbill Lake Campground are both Forest Service concession campgrounds operated by Sawbill Canoe Outfitters under a special use permit. “The special use permit identifies how the campground(s) should be managed in accordance with Forest Service policy,” Ryan Blaisdell, the Forest Service Recreation Specialist for the Tofte and Gunflint Ranger Districts, said.
Blaisdell said campground hosts play an invaluable role as stewards of the Superior National Forest and, ultimately, managers of the campgrounds. “They also can be a great source of local information for visitors,” he said. “We all greatly appreciate the work our campground hosts provide.”
If an individual is interested in becoming a campground host, Blaisdell said individuals should contact the Superior National Forest or the Concessionaire for concessionaire campgrounds. There are only a few requirements, including minimal manual work and working well with the public. And while having a dog is not a requirement, it is certainly a welcomed addition.
As for Sullivan and Davis, they both intend to remain in their campground host positions for many more years to come. “I figured another five years,” Davis said. “Then, I’ll be 80 years old, and I figure I’ll slow down by then.
