Upper Bidwell Park- Big Chico Creek

Category: Skinny Dipping

User Rating

Review: Excellent place to hang around nude, especially on warm days. Upper Park is big enough to find some seclusion almost any day of the year. Very popular with the college crowd. Just be wary of the steep climb down, slippery rocks, and poison oak.

Description: This area of Upper Bidwell Park has been used for nude sunbathing for years, mostly by local gay men. Big Chico Creek runs through the park, and is an excellent place to relax and enjoy the outdoors.

Directions:

Take Wildwood Ave. into Upper Bidwell Park (the main drive).

Continue on the road until eventually become unpaved, passing the lower swimming parking areas A through L.
At Parking Area M, park and take the steep and slippery trail down to the creek (exercise extreme caution) and walk upstream.

The nude area typically extends from the stream nearest the M parking area up to Salmon Hole (a deep swimming pond at parking area N), although you can sometimes find nude sunbathers and swimmers anywhere in the upper reaches of this dead-end road.

Some cruising and sex is known to occur in the bushes from time to time, but is rarely offensive. Be very careful of submerged rocks, poison oak, and very slippery surfaces. Bring an extra towel or padding to make sitting on the hot, black, pokey rocks tolerable. Alcohol is not permitted in the Park. Unpaved portion of the road is closed Sundays, Mondays, and after significant rain. I am not aware of the reaction of local rangers to nudists.