Chico to Colusa

We got booted out of town early on Sunday morning to make space for the service at 8:30. We did not really mind, we were just still happy that we had found a place to stay for our night in Chico. At our cue sheet meeting, we found out that we only 43 miles of flat road between us and our host for the night in Colusa. Basically it was a choose between spending the morning in Chico or spending a long afternoon in Colusa. So we chose Chico and went to find a great place to swim.

After biking through Bidwell Park and talking to many locals we found our water hole to swim in. When I say found I mean, we were told how to get there but still were not sure how long it would take. So it took us an hour from start to finish until we found Bear Hole in the upper section of Bidwell Park in the foothills. Man was it worth the wait!

It was all lave rocks that had been smoothed down from human contact that declined into the river. It was a great space with deep and shallow parts that allowed for amazing adventures. We tested the limits with jumping off rocks into the water, chilled out in the sun and waded through the currents. The best part came when we found the old dam that filled the aqueduct (which is now the trail). The dam had broken and it was now random concrete 12 feet above the river. It was a perfect location for jumping into the water from with an area in the water the diameter of 15 feet that was safe to jump into.

So after this fun we picked up a relaxing lunch and were on the road by 2 PM. It was kind of funny to think about how the majority of the group was already relaxing at our host while we’re still eating our lunch. The rumors were true that we just had flat road ahead of us for 43 miles through farm country in the valley. I stopped once for a minute or two just to jump into a sprinkler but other than that I just booked it into Colusa.

I had no idea that the town was approaching before I went over the bridge into it. There really was no civilization at all other than random farm houses. Locals in Colusa told me than many Civil War Sympathizers moved our into this region, and it made sense after seeing all the ‘plantations.’ I was not too sure of what exactly was along the farmlands we went through, but it reminded me of the flat parts of Mississippi.

We had a grand dinner and community event waiting for us as we arrived. It was one of the best meals of our journey cooked by great people who really cared about their area. I hope that we can come back next year to help them out with 20% unemployment rate in their county. A great small town and after this we had back into big towns until the prize of Santa Cruz.