A Cyclist’s Guide to Butte County: Mountain, Road, and Leisure Rides

Don’t let the mod­est ele­va­tions fool you; Butte Coun­ty offers tech­ni­cal ter­rain that chal­lenges even sea­soned rid­ers. Whether you want to test your sus­pen­sion on vol­canic rock or find flow in the for­est, these are a few local favorites.

Upper Bid­well Park

The county’s moun­tain bik­ing epi­cen­ter, Upper Bid­well Park is the place to start any MTB adven­ture. The vol­canic, rocky ter­rain of the North Rim, Mid­dle Trail, and B Trail pro­vides a rig­or­ous work­out and a mas­ter­class in tech­ni­cal riding.

For a for­mi­da­ble test of your skills, head to Guardian Trail. Or opt for the more mod­er­ate (yet still chal­leng­ing) Annie Bid­well Trail.

Good to know: Always car­ry extra water and a flat kit; Upper Bid­well’s vol­canic rock is famous for being ​“tire-hun­gry.”

Lake Oroville State Recre­ation Area

South of Chico, the trails around Lake Oroville offer a dif­fer­ent expe­ri­ence with smoother, less tech­ni­cal dirt. Pot­ters Ravine and the North Fork Trail are local favorites for high-mileage days and scenic water views. 

And you can’t for­get the 41-mile Brad Free­man Trail. With a com­bi­na­tion of paved and unpaved sur­faces, sin­gle­track, lev­ees, railbeds, and dirt roads, it’s the go-to trail for those look­ing to expe­ri­ence a lit­tle bit of every­thing the region has to offer in a sin­gle ride.

High Coun­try & For­est Exploration

For those who pre­fer fire roads and for­est soli­tude, explore the grav­el and dirt routes above Cohas­set, or the trails con­nect­ing For­est Ranch to High­way 32 and Mag­a­lia, and all the way down into Cen­ter­ville.

Fur­ther up the ridge, the Col­by Moun­tain Recre­ation Project is a col­lab­o­ra­tive effort devel­op­ing 40 miles of mod­ern sin­gle­track designed with jumps, drops, berms, and rock gar­dens. Cur­rent­ly, rid­ers can enjoy:

• Hum­boldt Drop: A machine-built, 4.5‑mile advanced down­hill sin­gle­track fea­tur­ing a 1,500-foot ver­ti­cal descent designed for speed (with ride-around options for cus­tom chal­lenge levels).
• Escape Trail: A 9‑mile, mul­ti-use, and mul­ti-direc­tion­al cross-coun­try trail. Start­ing at the look­out, this trail is wide enough to accom­mo­date adap­tive moun­tain bikes.

Butte County’s road cycling cul­ture is deep-root­ed and sur­pris­ing­ly com­pet­i­tive. The lack of con­stant stop­lights and the prox­im­i­ty to chal­leng­ing climbs make the region a per­fect play­ground for any­one look­ing for a respectable workout.

Pop­u­lar Routes

Local rid­ers often head out to make the steady climb to Cen­ter­ville, cruise the flat, orchard-lined roads of Durham, or tack­le the icon­ic ascent of Hon­ey Run Road.

And every April, the Wild­flower Century brings thou­sands of cyclists to the area, offer­ing a sup­port­ed, non-com­pet­i­tive way to explore the county’s most scenic road routes dur­ing the spring bloom.

The Com­pet­i­tive Scene

The local cycling com­mu­ni­ty is both com­pet­i­tive and tight-knit. With a mix of expe­ri­enced vet­er­ans and young tal­ent, the lev­el of com­pe­ti­tion here is often said to rival that of major met­ro­pol­i­tan areas.

If you’re look­ing to jump into a race or find a group ride, Chico Velo is the pre­mier local advo­cate and the best place to get connected.

You don’t need a car­bon frame or a full-sus­pen­sion rig to enjoy the area. Bik­ing is often the most acces­si­ble way to explore our communities.

Bike-Friend­ly Chico

Chico is a place where life on a bike just makes sense. With a small­er foot­print that puts almost every shop and park with­in a 20-minute ride, the city is nat­u­ral­ly built for two wheels. 

This com­pact design, paired with a ded­i­cat­ed com­mu­ni­ty of cycling advo­cates, has main­tained Chico’s Gold Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion from the League of Amer­i­can Bicy­clists since 2016, build­ing on its rep­u­ta­tion as a rec­og­nized bike-friend­ly com­mu­ni­ty that dates back to the late 1990s.

Explor­ing by bike is easy and accessible, with a dozen paved, mul­ti-use paths weav­ing through­out the city. Most local estab­lish­ments are bike-friend­ly, so well-lit and secure park­ing is easy to find.

A great place to start if you’re look­ing to explore the entire city by bike is the Bike­way 99 path. A main line through the city, this trail con­nects the lodg­ing and retail areas in the south end of town direct­ly to the rest of the city’s trail system.

It’s an easy way to reach pop­u­lar spots like Down­town Chico, Meri­am Park, and the trails of Upper Bid­well Park with­out hav­ing to nav­i­gate heavy traffic.

Whether you’re head­ing to the Sat­ur­day Farm­ers Mar­ket or just out for a sun­set cruise, the ride is often the best part of the trip.

Low­er Bid­well Park

If you’re look­ing for a tru­ly relaxed time on two wheels, Chico’s Low­er Bid­well Park is the per­fect spot. Here, you’ll find miles of paved, canopy-cov­ered trails, per­fect for fam­i­lies or a relaxed after­noon under the trees, with plen­ty of park-and-lock spots if you want to explore the creek on foot.

No mat­ter your skill lev­el or your pre­ferred ter­rain, Butte Coun­ty is a place where you can find your own pace. Grab your hel­met, pick a path, and dis­cov­er the nat­ur­al beau­ty of North­ern Cal­i­for­nia from the best seat in the house.