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Pick up sticks
Maryanne Richards, 65, is one of five winter campground caretakers hired by the Roseburg Bureau of Land Management to protect against vandalism and look after the parks. As part of her daily routine at Millpond Campground near Idleyld Park she removes debris from the trails.
IDLEYLD PARK -- Whether it's removing fallen limbs from trails or checking restrooms for vandalism, Maryanne Richards takes her job as a campground caretaker seriously.
The Vancouver, Wash., native, who most recently lived in Kansas, has managed a natural food store, worked for the Miss America Pageant and was an antiques dealer, which took her all over the United States.
It's that last job that gives her a measure of authority when she brags about Douglas County.
"You've got the best secret," she likes to gush. "This is the most gorgeous country."
Though Millpond Campground, located about five miles up Rock Creek Road from Idleyld Park, closes to campers during the winter months, and some mornings are dismal and freezing, she keeps plenty busy.
"You can't stop her," said Ron Murphy, outdoor recreation planner for the Roseburg Bureau of Land Management. "We're very proud to have her here."
Richards, 65, is one of five winter campground caretakers hired by the Roseburg BLM to protect against vandalism and look after the parks.
Without a caretaker, kids will stuff paper towels in the toilets or try and steal picnic tables, Richards said. Once, a maintenance shed was broken into and thousands of dollars of tools and equipment were stolen, Murphy said.
In exchange for free utilities and a small stipend, Richards keeps the park clean.
She begins her morning routine by touring the campsites, raking leaves and picking up any garbage. She walks the trail that meanders through the campground and day use area along Rock Creek before winding through a thick forest.
"You get a lot of debris, and somebody (could) walk right here and fall," she said as she crouched down and tossed sticks off the path.
She walks about five miles a day and said she likes to spend most of the daylight hours outside.
In her free time, she writes letters, reads novels and history books of the area and explores the local waterfalls. Her goal is to hike to all of them so she can better inform visitors.
Once a week she makes a trip to Roseburg to buy groceries, and she found a nice church, the North Umpqua Bible Fellowship in Glide, to visit on Sundays.
She said she meets plenty of people, whether it's the regulars who come to walk on the trail, hunters and mushroom pickers, or periodic soon-to-be brides checking out the pavilion area.
"The people here are so nice and so laid-back," she said. "When you go to Portland, everybody's rush, rush, rush."
Richards said she always enjoyed camping as a child and with her late husband, who died in 1996. After divorcing her second husband, she moved back to Vancouver where her two grown children live and decided to buy a motor home.
"I bought it and I love it," she said. "It's really easy to drive, though at first I was a nervous wreck."
She and her cat began looking for a more permanent place to settle that would be close to her children and grandchildren. She began talking with a now-retired employee of the Roseburg BLM, who persuaded her to drive down and see the county.
Now that she's here, she doesn't plan on leaving.
"I walked into this park, and I said, 'Oh, I'm staying here,'" she said.
She's set to stay at Millpond until April, when she'll switch to Susan Creek Campground, a little farther east on Highway 138, for the summer. At this point, she'd like to stay beyond that as well.
Inside her motor home, she has all the amenities that make a home: Internet connection and a built-in coffee maker; framed pictures of family members and vases of silk flowers displayed along the windshield; a throw blanket draped on the couch.
She can also radio the ranger if she ever has any problems, but she said she feels perfectly safe.
On a rare sunny morning in January, the sun catches the moss clinging to towering trees so it glows a soft green, and it's easy to envy Richards.
"Really, this is a dream come true," she said.
* You can reach reporter Diane Huber at 957-4218 or by e-mail at dhuber@newsreview.info.
The Vancouver, Wash., native, who most recently lived in Kansas, has managed a natural food store, worked for the Miss America Pageant and was an antiques dealer, which took her all over the United States.
It's that last job that gives her a measure of authority when she brags about Douglas County.
"You've got the best secret," she likes to gush. "This is the most gorgeous country."
Though Millpond Campground, located about five miles up Rock Creek Road from Idleyld Park, closes to campers during the winter months, and some mornings are dismal and freezing, she keeps plenty busy.
"You can't stop her," said Ron Murphy, outdoor recreation planner for the Roseburg Bureau of Land Management. "We're very proud to have her here."
Richards, 65, is one of five winter campground caretakers hired by the Roseburg BLM to protect against vandalism and look after the parks.
Without a caretaker, kids will stuff paper towels in the toilets or try and steal picnic tables, Richards said. Once, a maintenance shed was broken into and thousands of dollars of tools and equipment were stolen, Murphy said.
In exchange for free utilities and a small stipend, Richards keeps the park clean.
She begins her morning routine by touring the campsites, raking leaves and picking up any garbage. She walks the trail that meanders through the campground and day use area along Rock Creek before winding through a thick forest.
"You get a lot of debris, and somebody (could) walk right here and fall," she said as she crouched down and tossed sticks off the path.
She walks about five miles a day and said she likes to spend most of the daylight hours outside.
In her free time, she writes letters, reads novels and history books of the area and explores the local waterfalls. Her goal is to hike to all of them so she can better inform visitors.
Once a week she makes a trip to Roseburg to buy groceries, and she found a nice church, the North Umpqua Bible Fellowship in Glide, to visit on Sundays.
She said she meets plenty of people, whether it's the regulars who come to walk on the trail, hunters and mushroom pickers, or periodic soon-to-be brides checking out the pavilion area.
"The people here are so nice and so laid-back," she said. "When you go to Portland, everybody's rush, rush, rush."
Richards said she always enjoyed camping as a child and with her late husband, who died in 1996. After divorcing her second husband, she moved back to Vancouver where her two grown children live and decided to buy a motor home.
"I bought it and I love it," she said. "It's really easy to drive, though at first I was a nervous wreck."
She and her cat began looking for a more permanent place to settle that would be close to her children and grandchildren. She began talking with a now-retired employee of the Roseburg BLM, who persuaded her to drive down and see the county.
Now that she's here, she doesn't plan on leaving.
"I walked into this park, and I said, 'Oh, I'm staying here,'" she said.
She's set to stay at Millpond until April, when she'll switch to Susan Creek Campground, a little farther east on Highway 138, for the summer. At this point, she'd like to stay beyond that as well.
Inside her motor home, she has all the amenities that make a home: Internet connection and a built-in coffee maker; framed pictures of family members and vases of silk flowers displayed along the windshield; a throw blanket draped on the couch.
She can also radio the ranger if she ever has any problems, but she said she feels perfectly safe.
On a rare sunny morning in January, the sun catches the moss clinging to towering trees so it glows a soft green, and it's easy to envy Richards.
"Really, this is a dream come true," she said.
* You can reach reporter Diane Huber at 957-4218 or by e-mail at dhuber@newsreview.info.
