Ed Warden is staying in his big tent for the winter at the Bradbury Mountain State Park campground in Pownal mostly because he can.

Warden loves the active lifestyle involved in being the camp host at the state park, a volunteer position with the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands. He set his tent up last June, and during the busy spring, summer and fall seasons, he keeps the showers and toilets clean, and provides information about the park to visitors.

But to stay at the campground in the winter, Warden has to kick it up a notch, and that’s fine with him.

“I’m not ready for the elderly place,” said Warden, 67. “I’ve got my health. I can still chop wood. I’m not ready for a nursing home.”

And chop wood Warden must, in order to keep his tent, which measures 12 feet by 20 feet, warm enough to live in this time of year. He has wood delivered in a truck, then splits it. Warden figures he’ll burn about a cord a month in winter, less in early spring. He burns the wood in a small wood stove, which he also uses for cooking. The vinyl floor, which consists of a liner, was built for use in a tent, Warden said.

Together, Warden says, he paid about $2,200 for the tent and the stove at Cabela’s about four years ago.

It’s comfortable inside Warden’s winter home. He keeps it around 66 degrees, he has an armchair and a bed, and he watches DVDs on a small television screen, powered with electricity from a utility pole near the tent.

“This is my home right now,” said Warden, whose last residence was Westbrook. “I like meeting the campers.”

Warden gets water sometimes from the nearby home of Fritz Appleby, park manager, and uses the park facilities, including the outhouse and showers.

He gets a ride with a park employee to get his groceries. Often, Warden will take the short walk into Pownal center, to pick up small items or have lunch at Edna & Lucy’s.

Appleby said that Warden is not the first camp host to stay the winter.

“It’s cheap rent,” Appleby joked. “It’s a challenge to them. They like to challenge themselves to see if they can do it.”

Appleby said that campground hosts do a variety of park-related chores.

“They provide security over there,” said Appleby, who lives across Route 9. “Few use the campground in the winter. It might be the only park that has a year-around campground host.”

Appleby said in the past, a boat builder stayed for the winter.

“He worked all day, and just slept in a tent. He sparingly used a propane heater. He had a circulation problem, and it healed,” Appleby said.

Both Warden and Appleby hope that others might notice the big tent at the head of the campground.

“It would be a great opportunity for the Boy Scouts to have a place to go, set up their own tents and camp out in the winter,” Appleby said.

Warden said he sees so many people who use the other side of Bradbury Mountain State Park for hiking and sightseeing, and don’t even know about the campground.

“The availability of this campground across the road is not well known,” he said. “They all go to the mountain area. We’re trying to get more people interested in winter activities. We’ve got a bunch of kids coming from Freeport to tent out.”

This is the second winter stint at Bradbury Mountain for Warden.

“I’ve been volunteering since summer,” Warden said. “This is very peaceful for me. I’ve always liked the solitude of the wilderness in winter. I go snowshoeing.”

Can it get a little spooky at night?

“Sometimes there’s coyotes, but that’s nothing,” he said. “There’s neighbors everywhere.”

Warden, who is single, was born in New York, and grew up in Connecticut. He did two tours with the Marines in Vietnam. Warden lived in New Hampshire prior to settling in Maine about 20 years ago.

He takes walks, reads, plays his guitar and writes songs.

“I’ve written a lot of songs in my years here,” he said.

So far, so good with the lifestyle. Warden complains of no aches and pains.

“I believe communing with nature keeps you healthy,” he said. “People know me. I’ve probably shown 100 people this tent.”

Bob Crowley, the 2008 winner of the CBS reality television challenge, “Survivor,” is one of those visitors. Crowley stopped in on Warden last fall.

“I thought, ‘Huh,’ when I saw the tent,” said Crowley, who owns Maine Forest Yurts, just a few miles away on Auburn/Pownal Road. “He seems to be really having a good time. He is truly roughing it. He’s got a great setup. He’s even got a mud room.”

Crowley and his wife, Peggy, host the annual Durham Warriors Project Survival Challenge, a “Survivor” spinoff, at Maine Forest Yurts. They also care for a large farm, and Bob Crowley chops his own wood.

“People like (Warden) make me look normal,” Crowley said. “I think it’s great. He’s adventuresome. I’d almost like to try it myself, if I didn’t have so many irons in the fire.”

Ed Warden stands outside the big tent in which he lives, on the Bradbury Mountain State Park campground, on a frosty January morning.Staff photo by Larry GrardEd Warden needs to make sure his wood stove is fed this time of year.Staff photos by Larry GrardEd Warden watches DVDs from a comfortable chair in his tent, where he is staying the winter in the campground at Bradbury Mountain State Park.