Touring *

From State Highway 99 in Chico, exit at Eighth Street, the main downtown exit, and follow the one-way street seven blocks southwest. Turn right when you reach Cypress Street and follow it another four blocks north until you see the gated entrance to Bidwell Park at Woodland Avenue. Turn right to enter, and park in the lots serving the picnic and swimming area on the southern riverbank.

Bidwell One-Mile Park is where the first Robin Hood movie was filmed, and when you see the tangle of dense underbrush and tall, vine-covered trees that almost completely hide Big Chico Creek, you'll understand why: it's a jungle out here! Most of the place remains robustly untamed, with a timeless charm that might have you identifying with one of Sherwood Forest's merry men (or women). Pedestrians, cyclists, and skaters are welcome to traverse either of Big Chico Creek's level banks on shady roads that wind through the forest for about two and a half miles each. Car traffic is scant enough on these one-way lanes to make them safe for skating, and numerous signs and painted skater icons (a figure doing what looks like a heel-toe roll) warn motorists to drive with care. Start your tour on the sidewalk beyond the rest rooms at the far end of the parking lot near the swimming area. Don't let this first bit of smooth (almost-slick) green surface get your hopes up; all too soon it delivers you to a rough asphalt trail passing under Highway 99. The path takes you to Woodland Avenue, the first portion of the southern creek bank's one-way street. Woodland curves through the dense forest and passes under Highway 99, where it becomes South Park Drive. Soon you'll find yourself passing small picnic areas that were literally carved out of the underbrush. This section of road is off-limits to cars for a nice stretch all the way to Cedar Grove Road, about three-quarters of a mile from where you started. Just beyond where cars are allowed, you'll see a bridge over the river that provides access to North Park Drive, one of three such crossings along the way; these can be used to take shortcuts if you don't want to skate the entire loop described here. Continuing east on South Park, you pass fenced-off backyards on the right, and breaks in the foliage offering creek access (over dirt and leaves) on the left. South Park Drive ends where it meets Centennial Avenue. Stick to the now-dedicated trail as it follows Big Chico Creek on another section of fine green sidewalk (interrupted by wood drainage slats). At Manzanita Avenue, go left to cross the bridge over the creek. (It's possible to continue skating east on the other side of Manzanita Avenue on a quarter-mile trail that leads upstream to Five Mile Park, but it's hardly worth the effort, even when you add on the service road and a one-block section of a newly paved residential street on the far side of the park.) After crossing the bridge to the north side of the creek, skate west for a quarter-mile on a third section of green sidewalk to meet up with North Park Drive, another shady lane on the banks of Chico Creek. This street is also disappointingly rough compared to the green sidewalk you just left, but the surrounding natural beauty helps compensate. Make your way back up the long, tree-lined corridor near shady picnic sites till you reach a parking lot that serves the swimming area from the north creek bank. At the far end of the lot, skate a block down Vallombrosa Way to reach the bridge that crosses back to the south side of the creek, to the area where you parked.