Questions on summer seasonal work at NP's, resorts, lodges, etc..

Hmmm

I haven't had these jobs but a lot of friends have.

Delaware North is hard to work for,

Pay is generally low.

However living is often paid for or subsidized making take home pay better.

Also you are in a remote area so generally spend less.

Any kind of management would pay better of course, but I assume it would be tough to get your first year in (many of these jobs have repeat folks).

I have only been to Yellowstone a few times, I would say I enjoyed the remote parts, but no the crowded tourist parts (where the most work is generally) old faithful etc.

Thank You!

bump

This summer I worked at Glacier for Xanterra. Quick thoughts:

-Can't fathom a better place to live/work than Glacier. It's amazing. Spending a couple months there was a real treat.

-I managed to put in 35-40 MPW there, but between a having physically strenuous job, hiking a lot in my free time, and lack of training partners, the training can be tough to keep up out there. Also you have to run with bear spray and make lots of noise on the trail as grizzlies are a very threat. Most beautiful running I've ever done though, hands down.

-Xanterra is a pretty awful organization. They do everything they can to skimp on spending on employees to increase profit. Base wages are always ~$8/hour and they do everything they can to prohibit you from working overtime. Servers actually made a decent amount of money off tips apparently though, I think I heard >$10k/summer was pretty standard but I could be off. However they have brutal work schedules.

-Employee food varies drastically depending on your placement. As you might expect, it is sort of gross.

-I worked as a housekeeper. It was a grind.

-For seasonals, it is pretty standard that they put you in employee housing and you pay small amount (~$300/month) for room & board.

I had a fun experience but if you're worried about getting in quality training while working a seasonal, I'd warn against it since the jobs are so physical (lots of time on your feet) and running in the wilderness isn't really conducive to competitive success except for trail/ultrarunning. Also probably not for you if you want to make a lot of money, though you will almost definitely save some up while there since cost of living is so low. Overall I am extremely glad I did it but would not do it again.

Also - I know some people who worked at Yellowstone. They're cool folks. It sounds like a lot of fun there, but keep in mind it is quite a college-y party scene from what I understand.

This is all good stuff, thanks!

Big sky country wrote:

-I worked as a housekeeper. It was a grind.

Post some housekeeping horror stories. People are strange. Maybe NP visitors are less so?

Worked in a Yellowstone gift shop for 2 summers, decades ago. It was a good time. Plenty of time to train, relax, hike, etc. Lived in the employee dorms ... basically, no frills college dorms. 2 beds per room, bathroom down the hall. Biggest drawback was the food in the EDR (employee dining room) ... one way or the other, you were going to eat hash browns. If you didn't eat them at breakfast, they would reappear as hash brown casserole at lunch and dinner. Employee pub was fun ... half of my paycheck went back to my employer. ;-)

The gift shop was a cush job ... fold t-shirts, run the register, count the till at night. 2 days off per week, with an early shift before the days off and a late shift after time off. There were some crap jobs like "dish dog" and "pot head" which involved scrubbing dishes and pots. There were a lot of other like-minded college students ... enjoyed the outdoors, etc. There were a number of other college athletes there who were in YNP to get away someplace different to train.

Honestly it was a lot more boring and repetitive than gross. I was expecting that I'd see some gnarly stuff but people who stay at NP lodges are actually cleaner, and far less sexually active, than you'd expect.

I will say though that you'd be shocked at how often we found inexplicable blood spots on sheets and pillow cases.