Paradise Creek campground
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 10 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $25–$45Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 4241 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Paradise Creek sits at the confluence of Paradise Creek and the Wind River, nestled under an old-growth forest of cedars, firs, alder and maples. The sites by the river enjoy privacy from an abundance of lush undergrowth, while the other sites have a more open and spacious feel. The campground's remote location is ideal for campers seeking a quiet and relaxed environment. Keep reading
Recreation
The Wind River provides excellent fishing, with a population of steelhead and Chinook salmon. Check state regulations for open season and boundries. Wading is permitted in Paradise Creek. Fishing is not permitted in the campground. Seasonal berry picking is a popular pastime and for visitors interested in hiking, there is access to the Lava Butte Trail 200 from the campground.
Facilities
The campground consists of 42 back-in sites with paved parking spurs that vary from 20 to 40 feet in length. The Premium Sites are adjacent to the Wind River. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. An on-site hand pump offers drinking water, and vault toilets are available.
Natural Features
Located in southwest Washington State, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest encompasses 1.3 million acres and includes the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument established by Congress in 1982. Paradise Creek Campground is located in the Mt. Adams Ranger District. Elevations here range between 1,200 feet at the Wind River Work Center, 12 miles north of Carson, WA and 12,276 feet at the summit of Mt. Adams. The Mount Adams Ranger District offers a large variety of habitats and natural features, from old growth to second growth forest, wetland areas, low and high elevation meadows, glaciers, and low and high elevation lakes. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (360) 729-0018 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
Paradise Creek is an ideal base for exploring the different viewpoints around Mount St. Helens and Mt Adams. The nearest town is Carson, WA.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a campsite. Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. No-Shows A no-show visitor is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes and applicable add-on for a campsite. Refunds Visitors may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Refunds will not be issued after the 7 days has ended. Refunds for debit or credit card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay. For check or cash purchases, Recreation.gov will mail a Treasury check for refunds of cash, check, or money order payments to the address associated with the reservation. Treasury check refunds may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive. In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team or facility manager will refund all fees and will attempt to notify you using the contact information within the Recreation.gov visitor profile.
What the agency tells you
Check in: 2 pm, Check out: 12 pm (noon)
Off-road vehicles are not permitted in the campground
Click here for more information about Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Extra vehicle fee of $8.00/night of stay.
Firewood is available for sale at host site for $10.00/bundle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 42
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…hand pump offers drinking water, and vault toilets are available. Natural Features Located in…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…a picnic table and fire ring. An on-site hand pump offers drinking water, and vault toilets are…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Night sky · 317th darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 40 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 41 of the 42 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
“Extra Vehicle Fee $8.00” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $25–$45 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a cam…” · this campground’s own no-show terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 7
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
42 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 41 mapped sitesAll 42 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 42 of the 42 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 64 ft | 387 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 107 ft | 339 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 71 ft | 274 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 71 ft | 340 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 230 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 006 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 80 ft | 309 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 007 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 68 ft | 221 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 68 ft | 286 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 009 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 68 ft | 198 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 68 ft | 266 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 77 ft | 347 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 77 ft | 301 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 013 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 81 ft | 381 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 014 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 88 ft | 425 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 015 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 94 ft | 435 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 016 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 112 ft | 467 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 017 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 107 ft | 203 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 79 ft | 208 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 019 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 79 ft | 140 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 020 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 83 ft | 111 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 021 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 83 ft | 194 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 022 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 87 ft | 74 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 023 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 87 ft | 157 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 024 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 57 ft | 249 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 025 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 57 ft | 213 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 026 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 56 ft | 279 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 027 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 56 ft | 223 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 028 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 147 ft | 265 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 029 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 151 ft | 250 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 030 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 204 ft | 450 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 031 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 84 ft | 531 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 032 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 53 ft | 500 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 033 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 53 ft | 550 ftWind River | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 034 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 574 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 035 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 532 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 036 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 505 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 037 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 75 ft | 531 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 038 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 69 ft | 466 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 039 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 60 ft | 512 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 040 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 60 ft | 452 ft | $25–$45 |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 041 | type not stated | 30 ft | 466 ft | $36 | |
| AREA PARADISE CREEK | 042 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 64 ft | 435 ft | $25–$45 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
25 of 42 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Govt Mineral Springs Guard StaGifford Pinchot National Forest · 5.5 mi
Beaver CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 6.6 miCat Creek CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 7.6 miCody HorsecampGifford Pinchot National Forest · 7.6 mi
Forlorn Lakes CG (WA) Gifford Pinchot NFGifford Pinchot National Forest · 7.6 mi
Goose Lake CampgroundGifford Pinchot National Forest · 7.6 miTake Highway 14 to Carson. From Carson, travel about 19 miles northwest on Wind River Highway. The campground is between mile post 20 and 21.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Carson, WA
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 60°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 29°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Paradise Creek campground is in Washington’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →