Bidwell Park

As one of the largest munic­i­pal parks in the Unit­ed States, Bid­well Park is the crown jew­el of Chico, California.

Span­ning 3,670 acres, the park stretch­es near­ly 11 miles from the city’s vibrant down­town deep into the rugged foothills of the Sier­ra Neva­da. From paved paths under thick tree canopies to rugged Love­joy basalt-cov­ered canyons, the park’s diverse land­scape offers end­less space for dis­cov­ery and exploration.

Jump to: The Dif­fer­ent Sec­tions | Recre­ation | Know Before You Go | His­to­ry & Acknowl­edg­ment

Bid­well Park is geo­graph­i­cal­ly divid­ed by Man­zani­ta Avenue. While the park is offi­cial­ly man­aged in three sec­tions, most vis­i­tors cat­e­go­rize the land­scape into two dis­tinct environments:

• Low­er Bid­well Park (West of Man­zani­ta): Char­ac­ter­ized by a thick, idyl­lic tree canopy and flat, lev­el paths. It is the go-to spot for casu­al strolls, fam­i­ly pic­nics, and the famous Sycamore Pool. You’ll also find Caper Acres and the Chico Creek Nature Cen­ter here.
• Mid­dle and Upper Bid­well Park (East of Man­zani­ta): As you cross Man­zani­ta Avenue, the land­scape trans­forms into a rugged, 2,500-acre wilderness.
  • Mid­dle Park serves as the tran­si­tion­al gate­way, home to a vari­ety of parks and recre­ation areas, includ­ing Five Mile Recre­ation Area, where the creek is wider and shal­low­er than oth­er swim­ming holes upstream. This sec­tion also includes the Bid­well Park Golf Course and the Chico Com­mu­ni­ty Obser­va­to­ry (though locals typ­i­cal­ly con­sid­er these land­marks part of Upper Park).
  • Upper Bid­well Park is the heart of the foothills. Cov­er­ing the area upstream and uphill from Horse­shoe Lake, this part of the park fea­tures steep ter­rain, icon­ic rock for­ma­tions like Mon­key Face, and nat­ur­al swim­ming holes. Upper Park is home to the park’s most tech­ni­cal net­work of moun­tain bik­ing and hik­ing trails.

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Whether you are look­ing for a leisure­ly after­noon or a high-inten­si­ty work­out, Bid­well Park offers a vari­ety of world-class out­door activities:

• Bik­ing: Enjoy miles of paved paths in Low­er Park or test your skills on the tech­ni­cal, inter­twined sin­gle-track trails of Upper Park.
• Hik­ing & Trail Run­ning: Explore a mas­sive net­work of trails rang­ing from the acces­si­ble Yahi Trail to the chal­leng­ing North Rim.
• Swim­ming: Take a dip in the many nat­ur­al swim­ming holes along Big Chico Creek, a rare urban water­way that stays cool all sum­mer long.
• Golf­ing: Play 18 holes at the Bid­well Park Golf Course, one of the most scenic pub­lic cours­es in North­ern California.
• Stargaz­ing: The vol­un­teer-run Chico Com­mu­ni­ty Obser­va­to­ry offers a chance to view plan­ets and deep-space objects through pro­fes­sion­al tele­scopes in Upper Bid­well Park. Make sure to check their sched­ule for sea­son­al hours and clear-sky viewings.
  

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Park Hours

• Low­er Park: Closed Mid­night-5am daily
• Upper Park: Closed 11pm until one hour before sun­rise daily

Dogs in the Park

• In Low­er Park, dogs may be off-leash from 5:30am‑8:30am; they must be leashed at all oth­er times.
• Along the north side of Upper Park Road, dogs may be off-leash any­time but must remain under voice control.
  • No-Go Zones: For health and safe­ty, dogs are not allowed in Sycamore Pool, Five-Mile swim­ming areas, or any des­ig­nat­ed swim­ming holes in Upper Park.

Upper Park Gate Closures

The gate at Park­ing Area E (Horse­shoe Lake) is closed to vehi­cles on Sun­days and Mon­days and dur­ing sea­son­al wet peri­ods to pro­tect the trails from erosion.

Smok­ing & Fire Safety

Smok­ing is pro­hib­it­ed in Upper Park from May 1^st through Novem­ber 1^st due to high fire dan­ger. Camp­fires are not allowed; portable BBQs may only be used next to exist­ing BBQ stands in Low­er Park and Five Mile.

Review the full list of Bid­well Park rules here.

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Land Acknowl­edg­ment

We acknowl­edge that Bid­well Park is locat­ed on the tra­di­tion­al and ances­tral lands of the first peo­ple of this area, the Mechoop­da. We hon­or their endur­ing con­nec­tion to this land­scape, which they have stew­ard­ed since time immemo­r­i­al, and rec­og­nize their ongo­ing role as the orig­i­nal care­tak­ers of Big Chico Creek and the sur­round­ing foothills.

A Brief His­to­ry of Bid­well Park

Long before its des­ig­na­tion as a munic­i­pal park, this land­scape was, and remains, the home of the Mechoop­da Maidu. Vis­i­tors can still see the tribe’s influ­ence through­out the park, and the Chico Creek Nature Cen­ter pro­vides resources to learn more about the ear­ly inhab­i­tants and the nat­ur­al his­to­ry of the region.

The path from ances­tral land to pub­lic park began in the mid-1800s. Between 1849 and 1851, Chico founder John Bid­well acquired more than 22,000 acres of the Mex­i­can land grant known as Ran­cho del Arroyo Chico, with own­er­ship offi­cial­ly solid­i­fied by 1860.

In 1905, ful­fill­ing the long-held wish­es of her late hus­band, Annie Bid­well signed the first grant deed donat­ing approx­i­mate­ly 1,900 acres to the peo­ple of Chico. This ini­tial gift estab­lished Bid­well Park with the intent that the land be pre­served for pub­lic enjoy­ment in per­pe­tu­ity. Annie’s pro­hi­bi­tion­ist val­ues remain a part of the park today through the ​“no-alco­hol” pro­vi­sions she includ­ed in the orig­i­nal grants.

Over the last cen­tu­ry, the City of Chico has metic­u­lous­ly expand­ed the park’s foot­print, includ­ing a sig­nif­i­cant 1,420-acre acqui­si­tion in 1995.

Today, Bid­well Park spans 3,670 acres, serv­ing as a pro­tect­ed sanc­tu­ary for wildlife and a play­ground for the North State.

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