Upper Bidwell Park

Update 8/16/24 — Parts of Upper Bid­well Park remain closed due to the Park Fire. Please read more about the cur­rent trail sta­tus before visiting.

Bid­well Park is ​“divid­ed” by Man­zani­ta Avenue into Low­er Park and Upper Park. The area east of Man­zani­ta Avenue is referred to as Mid­dle and Upper Park. Upper Park is locat­ed in the foothills of the Sier­ra Neva­da Moun­tains. It has steep ter­rain and con­tains many rock for­ma­tions, includ­ing the unique Chico For­ma­tion sand­stone and Love­joy Basalt rocks.

Check the City of Chico’s web­site for the lat­est updates on trail sta­tus and gate hours.

Bik­ing Trails

There are a vari­ety of bik­ing trail options through­out Upper Bid­well Park, including;

• North Rim Trail: The North Rim Trail is an advanced trail that sits atop the north­ern canyon of Big Chico Creek and offers stun­ning views in all direc­tions once some ele­va­tion is gained. The trail itself is widened sin­gle track from years of use and ero­sion with very lit­tle soil sit­ting upon lava cap. The views start to become more mag­nif­i­cent the high­er the trail gets. Towards the top there are some short down­hill sec­tions before climb­ing to B Trail and beyond to a look­out. The trail can be done as an out and back or a short back­track to B Trail will take the hik­er back into the canyon where one can return on Mid­dle Trail.
• Mid­dle Trail: The Mid­dle Trail is an inter­me­di­ate trail that fluc­tu­ates from sec­tions of smooth dirt with short climbs out of drainages to sev­er­al long chunky rock gar­dens. In the upper­most sec­tion, there are sev­er­al short, steep climbs lit­tered with loose rocks. Mak­ing a loop with Upper Trail or Low­er Trail is a good option.
• Guardian Trail: Guardian Trail is an expert trail with exposed tech­ni­cal sin­gle-track. It’s all down­hill with some extreme drop-offs along the trail edges. Inter­me­di­ate rid­ers will hike a bike a good amount on this trail. All along the trail are views of Chico Creek Canyon below and the val­ley to the west. The birds will be soar­ing below you along this trail. It is gen­er­al­ly rec­om­mend­ed to ride this trail down, ascend­ing Ten Mile House Road from the South Rim Trail or the trails on the north side of the park (wet cross­ing, unsafe dur­ing high water).
  
• Over­all, Upper Park con­tains 12 scenic and chal­leng­ing trails and mul­ti­ple com­bi­na­tion trail options.

Hik­ing Trails

• The pedes­tri­an-only Yahi Trail in Upper Park is a rec­om­mend­ed vis­it. Yahi Trail offers the hik­er miles of scenic views along Big Chico Creek. Be sure to wear com­fort­able shoes and to bring plen­ty of drink­ing water.
• The Annie Bid­well Trail begins with some short punchy climbs up to the rim of the canyon. After inter­sect­ing Guardian Trail, there is a steep down­hill, lit­tered with loose rocks and sev­er­al drainages. This sec­tion is often referred to as ​“ten­nis ball hill.” The bot­tom of the steep sec­tion leads to a nice mead­ow as well as sev­er­al swim­ming oppor­tu­ni­ties in the Bear Hole area of Big Chico Creek.
  
• 10 Mile House Trail is a dirt road that is fre­quent­ly used to access South Rim Trail and Guardian Trail, as well as Big Chico Creek, the Big Chico Creek Eco­log­i­cal Reserve and HWY 32. There is a park­ing area at the top of the road off of HWY 32.
  
• All of the oth­er trails in Upper Park are mixed-use, and most are rat­ed as medi­um-to-dif­fi­cult hikes. Enjoy spring­time wild­flower blooms as well.

For addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion on hik­ing and bik­ing trails in Bid­well Park, check out the Hik­ing Project.

Bird­ing

Begin­ning just above Horse­shoe Lake along the canyon side, keep an eye out for a vari­ety of birds, includ­ing: a vari­ety of spar­rows, phain­ope­pla, great horned owl, north­ern pygmy owl, Cal­i­for­nia thrash­ers, Gold­en eagles, pur­ple finch­es, dark-eyed Jun­co, ducks, and more.

Swim­ming Holes

With Big Chico Creek run­ning through Bid­well Park, you’ll find a vari­ety of nat­ur­al swim­ming holes to enjoy, espe­cial­ly per­fect dur­ing the height of summer!

Dis­cov­er Upper Bid­well Park with this map. Get a free copy of the fold-out map, which includes the entire­ty of Bid­well Park, from the Chico Cham­ber of Commerce.