There are 14 rustic cabins for rent to the public who want to stay overnight in the park but are not bringing camping gear. Cabins rent for $43 per night.
Rustic means a solid four walls, floor, roof, electricity, heat, one 30” square table, four chairs and mattress sleeping for five on a futon couch and a bunk bed, but no plumbing, refrigeration or bedding.
I am assigned to cabin cleaning, with two other hosts, but only two of us are scheduled each day since we all get regular days off (mine are Thursday and Friday)
The process of cleaning the cabins here in Silver Falls State Park is very similar to the process Mike and I used for cleaning yurts in three different parks during our first year of hosting along the Oregon coast. But here it is easier because the tools of the trade have changed - no more wet mopping the floors.
Step one is to walk about 100 yards to the office and get clean floor mop pads and cleaning rags from the room where the host mailboxes and computer are also located.
Step two is to walk over to the golf cart garage in the maintenance yard and pick out an available golf cart.
Step three is to drive the golf cart back to the where I started in the host camp circle and collect the remaining tools of the trade from one of the three supply coffins….duster pole, broom, mop pole, rake, blower, and cleaning supply bucket.
Now I’m ready to learn how many cabins are needing to be cleaned after the guests check out today - could be any time between 9:30 when the list is available from the office until 1PM checkout time.
Next, I drive over to the key drop box near the park exit to see if any cabins have been vacated. If there are no keys in the box yet, I can return home for breakfast or whatever, or do something else in the park until there is a key available.
The actual cleaning process takes anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes depending on how many cabins are on the list today ( and therefore how much energy I want to expend on each one). While there is no time clock to punch, and no one is auditing our hours, the job description for all hosts says four hours per day. So if there are only 4 cabins to clean, 30 minutes per cabin is only two hours, and our job description suggests four hours per day.
Cobwebs, windows and glass, sweep, disinfect all touch surfaces, disinfect sleeping surfaces, disinfect the floors, litter pick outside, blow the patio area. There is a fire ban due to dry conditions, so there is not much activity outside around the fire pit right now.
You may be wondering “Why would she do that?” I won’t deny this particular task is more physically demanding than other camp host assignments we’ve had. But I do it because I think it is a fair trade for the benefits received. Benefits too numerous to discuss here - stay tuned for another post.
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