Being an Older Single Female

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Permalink Reply by GemMeg on February 21, 2009 at 9:29am

I'm 44, I think the parks (Grand Canyon, Yosemite, etc) crowd are more accepting to age, sexual pref, whatever... so if your a outgoing nice person you should have no problem. I'm single too. Good luck with whatever job you find.

Permalink Reply by Brenda on February 21, 2009 at 9:37am

I'm right behind ya. I'm 37 and go it alone on these jaunts. In both Yellowstone and the North rim they had several single folks in there 30's and 40's. Some even in there 50's as well and everyone of the single women I've met between 30's to the 50's were happy and loved being out there not tied down to anyone. They worked, made friends of other older people and very active.

Permalink Reply by Dee DeJong on February 21, 2009 at 2:08pm

I'm 47 and if you are outgoing and love people I have found to be accepted wherever I go. The trick is to just go for the job you want and the rest will come.

Permalink Reply by delilah on February 21, 2009 at 4:27pm

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking Yosemite. I have been a driver in the past. Any suggestions on best JOBS in Yosemite. I like to be outside and active.

Permalink Reply by Rick Alton on February 21, 2009 at 8:29pm

I am allways looking for new friends. I will be working in the tetons this summer and I spend the winter in Quartzsite. I Play around makeing jewelry, its good therapy and fun to boot.

Permalink Reply by Dan on February 22, 2009 at 5:24pm

Hi,
I've worked in resorts for years. I think you might like driving the red tour buses in Glacier National Park. They pay you and train you for your B class Commercial Driver's License and you work about mid-May to about mid-September. It is often thought to be the most enjoyable job in the Park. They have a couple of dorms for older employees at the East Glacier Park location,
Glacier Park Lodge. I'm 62 and I never found any problem with age or being single. Another place I think you might like is the Pahaska Teepee Lodge at the East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It is a much smaller company but another place where time stands still, almost seeming to run in reverse. Both companies have housing and meals, although Pahaska has far fewer jobs than Glacier Park Incorporated. Looking back, I would guess maybe the waitresses in the dining room maybe had the best summer of the women. The other Glacier location I would suggest is their Many Glacier Hotel as it is right on top of maybe the nation's single best system of really awesome hiking trails. Apply right this minute for both as choices dwindle as it gets closer to summer season's opening. Pahaska had a limited winter season for cross country skiers with a couple of shoulder seasons when they were relatively closed. The money at Pahaska wasn't too good but the experience was killer as I'm sure Kathy of this website can attest. Glacier drivers make pretty good dough when tips and tour gratuities are considered.

Permalink Reply by delilah on March 10, 2009 at 5:20am

Hi Dan
I guess you don't remember me. I worked in Glacier 4 summers ago as a Jammer. I was looking for something different but still trying to figure it out.

Permalink Reply by Dan on March 14, 2009 at 12:50am

Hi Delightful,
No, I haven't worked there since 2000 so I don't think we have met in person. Yes, if you have done that gig, it isn't something you're usually uncertain about. Another place I liked - but the money wasn't so good, was Pahaska Teepee Resort at the East Entrance of Yellowstone Park. Time sort of got suspended there like Brigadoon or something. Signal Mountain Lodge in Grand Teton on Jackson Lake is supposed to be very nice, although the job I interviewed for there didn't pay too much. I guess the better serving jobs pretty much always make some of the better cash anywhere. I interviewed a couple of years back to drive in Yellowstone because one of the drivers there had told me he make pretty good money. At the interview, the current Park Transpo people were quite convincing when they said they felt it would be impossible for any driver to make the kind of cash the driver had told me was making. The drivers at Grand Teton seemed to like their jobs but I didn't get the idea they made a great deal of money although, like in Glacier, they beat the lowest paying jobs. Here in Jackson they have had trouble finding drivers and the pay starts at over $14 per hour, much as in Vail and Aspen. The trouble with all three is finding housing and an hour's drive doesn't assure you that you'll find anything cozy and reasonable. I worked two jobs here in Jackson all last summer, working 80 hours per week on my slowest weeks. The hostel was $50 per night for a private room so I camped out. It was a hosted Forest Service improved campsite 18 miles out and it was $10 per night - no regrets. The local private company that handles much of the Valley's transportation needs is called Alltrans. They have been hiring lots of drivers with B CDLs each season with a starting pay of something like $13 or so. I'll bet they have fewer jobs and more applicants for our summer season here but I know they'll be hiring like the Parks and the Town of Jackson. Driving up here is work because it gets crowded from mid-July to late August. I'm guessing this season will be noticeabley slower but that you'll still know you weren't on the beach all day after a full day's driving in early August. Some other cool spots to work, if you're not so interesting in more summer bus driving in and around National Parks, would be the Lodge at Vail in Vail, Colorado, and the Valdoro Lodge in Breckenridge, Colorado. The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in Edwards outside of Vail is pretty cool and my current employer, the Terra Resort Group hotel management company is gre-eat. FYI, I just had to turn down a night audit job in Glacier... You work nights in the accounting office at East for $9 and because it's outside the Park, it is only 5 nights... Night auditing is a niche I stumbled into and it's nice because you have a complete control of your own gig. No bosses is good if you can keep yourself on a schedule and get the work done unsupervised. Telluride is another place like Jackson - still a wonderful and unhurried sense of place. The Inn at Lost Creek was pretty good and the Hotel Telluride and the Fairmont Franz Klammer Lodge are also notable. They do have driving jobs that start at about $13 but I would guess you'd have to get on-line and find an application there right away although there is avaiable housing at the town built two nice large complexes to be run non-profit for those who make something like less than $50K per year. I drove in Ketchikan, Alaska, for a month. They have a herd of some 30 buses, vans, and amphibian craft that jockey down the dock like on
an aircraft carrier. A line of tourists comes down a cruise ship gangplank and you run them to the Indian totem pole village or a boat tour etc. Gray Line hires drivers to do that and it didn't look too bad although I'm not tempted to go back. A long expensive round trip there for a short season with varying money with a crew that wasn't all that upbeat. They typically gave a lot of hours for the June 1 to September 7 season but the tips were supposed to make you the real money and there was some resistance as the tours we took the tourists on were spendy for what they got it seemed.

Permalink Reply by delilah on March 14, 2009 at 5:41am

thats a lot if info thanks for telling me about alaska i'll cross that off

Permalink Reply by Cathy on February 21, 2009 at 10:18pm

Thats a good question...as I would like to know also!

Permalink Reply by Jim on February 22, 2009 at 9:13am

If you want job descriptions for Yosemite, go to the DNC Yosemite website. In fact, look at this web page:

http://www.yosemitepark.com/AboutUs_Employment_PositionsAvailable.aspx

If you have any questions about the various jobs, ask me. I spent 3 summers in Yosemite Valley. If you want to be very adventurous, try for a job in the "high country", which is Tuolomne. It's remote and appeals to people who like that sort of thing. Jim

Permalink Reply by akscootr on February 22, 2009 at 5:37pm

I'm 44 and single also. Being young inside is the difference... people are in the parks for fun and adventure for the most part. I have friends from way back I still write and seem to make new ones every year... life is good in the parks. :) no worries....

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