Day 8: Bidwell Park excursion

May 23, 2024

I have a few more miles of pedaling today to finish the bike tour. On the road at 8:20, pedaling just a few blocks to see the Chico State campus. The official name is California State University Chico. Surprisingly it's the second oldest state university in California, founded in 1887 as the California State Normal School (college for educating women to be teachers). Enrollment of 17,488 students makes it a medium sized state university.

Chico State University was founded in 1887 as the California State Normal School.

I think Chico is one of the most desirable places in the Sacramento valley. On the eastern edge of the valley with easy access to Lassen Volcano and the northernmost Sierra Nevada. Far north of the congestion and pollution of the San Francisco-Sacramento megalopolis.

I pedaled forested paths through the Chico State campus along Chico creek. The creek goes through the middle of campus. East of the campus I stopped to look at Bidwell Mansion which is operated as a California State Historical Park.

Bidwell Mansion, a state historical park.

Update: 6 months later, the 156 year old Bidwell Mansion burned in an arson fire on December 11, 2024.

Just past Bidwell Mansion I entered Bidwell Park which is a linear park that goes 5 miles east across Chico, upstream along Chico creek. It's the main park for Chico, very popular. The central city parts are also popular for homeless tents.

Many things in Chico are named Bidwell. The first emigrant wagon train to arrive in California was the 1841 Bidwell-Bartleson Party. They had much better luck than the 1846 Donner Party.

First view of Chico creek on the Chico State campus.

I enjoyed riding the trail. Like most trails, 10 miles on the trail seemed like 20 miles on roads. The forested riparian corridor is an oasis in the urban near-desert.

Entering Bidwell Park. The trail has no grade level road crossings.

My original plan was to ride a trail all the way up the canyon to Lovejoy Falls. But I quickly found that the main canyon ascent is a technical singletrack trail not suitable for a loaded recumbent bike. So I turned around after going only 5 miles up Chico creek.

Bidwell Park has many bridges. This is one of the ugliest bridges with one of the best views.

I turned out of Bidwell Park just before returning to Bidwell Mansion. Now I have to pedal north across Chico to pick up a U Haul truck. I reserved a pickup location very near Bidwell Park, but was reassigned to a location that lengthens the bike ride and the U Haul drive. The new pickup point is on the far north edge of Chico, where the 99 freeway becomes a 2 lane highway. Google Maps gave me a good bike route that is 6 miles, half on bike trails. Much better than following the main arteries. Flat and easy except for a 20 mph headwind. At least the wind keeps me cool. It was the only strong headwind of the tour.

The entire front yard is native wildflowers.

I pedaled the lighted 99 Bikeway alongside the 99 Freeway and its flowering Oleander bushes.

I stopped for a lunch burrito at a food truck near the U Haul dealer. Excellent, and cheap. I got to the U Haul dealer at about 12:30. Picking up the truck took 30 minutes because the dealer didn't know the login for their smartphone app. A U Haul representative on the phone had to do the check-in process, including having me upload scans of my drivers license.

After picking up the U Haul truck I backtracked south to central Chico to get on CA 32 which goes as directly as possible from Chico to Susanville. The road is extremely mountainous, climbing from grassy hills to a densely forested canyon. Then upstream in the canyon for many miles. In the canyon I stopped to walk 200 feet to Deer Creek falls.

Deer Creek falls, a short walk from CA 32. Between Chico and Susanville.

After climbing out of the canyon I drove into an extremely hot burn area of the Dixie fire. This area is 5000 feet elevation and was dense with tall pines. But now it's a moonscape. It burned extremely hot and will recover very slowly.

CA 36 five miles west of Chester. Densely forested before the 2021 Dixie fire.

I drove the U Haul truck only 110 miles but it took 2.5 hours. About half the route is extremely winding. I arrived in Susanville at 3:30 PM and returned the truck just before the office closed. Then I pedaled one minute to my parked car and loaded the bike in a much smaller space than the 10 foot U Haul box.

From Susanville I drove my car 1.5 hours northwest to the town of Burney. The goal for tomorrow is to visit Burney Falls and do a big hike at Castle Crags State Park. Dinner was at a surprisingly good steakhouse in the struggling town of Burney.

Today's temperature was highly dependent on elevation. 80's in Chico. 60's in Susanville.

Distance: 19.9 miles
Average Speed: 8.1 mph
Ascent/Descent: +214/-204 feet

Today's ride: 19 miles (31 km)
Total: 248 miles (399 km)

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George (Buddy) HallVery interesting tour theme. I like your approach of leaving your vehicle at the start of a tour and then using a one-way rental vehicle to get back to it; I may copy that approach for a future tour. Congratulations on successfully completing the tour despite some hardship.
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6 months ago

Kelly IniguezIn the end, how do you like the bigger panniers?
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6 months ago

Wayne EstesTo George (Buddy) HallI plan carefully to minimize the chance of hardship, but it still happens sometimes. I became lax about carrying an emergency supply of food. Times change, I need to change. Difficulties on the Bizz Johnson trail were typical bike touring surprises. It's not a guided tour!
My next tour will also be an A to B tour with a U Haul to get back to my car. That's the best option for a short to medium A to B tour if 1-way car rentals aren't available at both ends.
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6 months ago

Wayne EstesTo Kelly IniguezI like them enough to keep using them. The best thing is that they are new and everything works properly. Narrower is better. I plan to remove the top compartment. I need to decide whether to cut off the top material only, or cut the seams and remove all the outer material. Cutting the seams would look better, but would leave hundreds of needle holes facing up. Maybe I could seal the holes with seam sealer.
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6 months ago