Trip Report
Winter Camping - Field Trip - Paradise
Field trip for Tacoma's Winter Camping course had bluebird days, cold overnight temperatures, lots of learning, and plenty of laughs.
Colin Chapman
- Sat, Feb 28, 2026 — Sun, Mar 1, 2026
- Winter Camping - Field Trip - Paradise
- Paradise
- Snowshoeing
- Successful
-
- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Nice snow conditions on our short snowshoe from the lower Paradise parking lot to our camp along Deadhorse Creek. Easy trekking, with all tree wells easily avoided.
A group of 11 Winter Camping students -- supported by a team of 7 instructors -- spent a glorious weekend in the Deadhorse Creek area of Mount Rainier National Park.
We parked our cars at the lower Paradise parking lot and got on our way. We were snowshoeing a *very* short distance, since the focus is on winter camping and not on snowshoe travel. If something unexpected came up, we wanted our cars to be a short distance away from camp.
We soon arrived at our campsite, and stomped out spaces for our tents.
We then set up our tents, making sure to bury our deadman anchors.
And yes, it was t-shirt weather...
We then created our huge, 18-person camp kitchen.
We then practiced building snow caves. Tight quarters meant that one person shoveled at a time, while others supervised.
We had a little bit of time to relax...
And then it was time to put our camp kitchen to use. Dinner time!
With cold temperatures in the forecast and darkening skies, bedtime came early.
We even had 1 intrepid instructor sleep in a bivy!
After a cold night, with a low of 21.7°F, we woke to clear skies and frost-covered tents.
These two seemed to make a nice pair...
Getting everything ready before exiting the warm tent.
Breakfast with Mountaineers royalty...aka Mountaineers Leader of the Year Karen (KT) Trilevsky.
Everyone stayed warm and dry overnight. Success!
We had a great weekend and learned a lot.
