What is “Workamping“? Well, it’s where you work for the campground you are staying at and camp. You get your site in exchange for working for the grounds. It goes by a lot of different names (depending on where you are), and some call it “Work Exchange”, others call it “Work Camping”. I’ve heard several different ones.

There are several websites out there for work camping opportunities anywhere in North America, and there are a lot of people who travel and do this sort of work in order to explore. We wanted to check out Tofino, and we were lucky enough to find a place that offered the exchange of work for site.

We are exchanging time for our site here in Tofino, and it’s been great! Megan cleans rooms, and I do maintenance. Things like scrubbing moss off of the buildings, or cleaning up the highway sign and area after the winter.

This is an option that we wanted to explore as it takes our costs, and brings them WAY down. Instead of thousands of dollars to live a month, we can survive on considerably less. We’re still working out the budget that we have here, but we’re getting into the groove, and it’s not as stressful. Lats month was hard on us, but that was due to all the things that a S&B (Sticks & Bricks) home takes from you, and then getting the RV properly registered and insured.

Tofino, being where it is located, is very expensive for basics, so we’re still working out those costs and finding where we can cut those costs without sacrificing too much.

Anyways, the other day I got to bath a bear! Have you ever bathed a bear? It wasn’t a real bear thankfully. It’s actually a really ornate wood carving that is a part of the campgrounds sign. There are features to this bear that are not visible from the road as you’re driving by. Such as a salmon in it’s mouth, which I found out was vandalized a few years back, which explains why half of it is missing.

The bear got a good scrub to turn it from green (moss) back to brown. Well, as brown as a 20+ year old wood carving sitting out in the elements can get. The sign looks fantastic, and I got a honk and thumbs up from someone, another literally stopped on the highway and took a picture before driving on as well.

After getting it all cleaned up, I got out the weed-whacker and cleaned up the area, which really opened it up. I have to say I am quite happy with it, and I found out that I’ve impressed the owner’s husband, and as the owner says; it’s very difficult to impress him.

Once the cabins are no longer occupied, and Megan isn’t cleaning rooms; I’ll get back to cleaning more moss off the cabins. There’s more I want to tidy on that front. Then, unless the new guy that recently came who is doing some workamping as well with his girlfriend, get’s it done, I may go and get the potholes filled in for the RV park area. He got the rest of the grounds, but not the RV park, and that may be because they got him onto other things.