Above is the remains of a tent and a campsite located within Upper Bidwell Park on a trail above the disc golf course on Hwy 32. Just beyond the tent is a crumpled camp chair. To the lower left of the picture you can see that somebody carefully dug out a spot for the tent. They also amassed a pretty nice pile of fire wood before the recent storm apparently drove them out.
Just over the ridge from the first camp, along an Upper Park trail, we found this site, seems to be occupied. You can see the tarp shelter, and a hoard of aluminum cans.
UPDATE: I reported these sites to my council rep Kasey Reynolds and City Manager Mark Orme but I haven’t had any response. We’ll see what we see the next time we venture out to this spot.
Yesterday my husband and I decided to get out and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. We headed for Upper Bidwell Park. There are a lot of nice trails off the abandoned section of Humboldt Road that runs along the Peregrine Point Disc Golf Course.
For years now we’ve encountered campers, but yesterday we saw the scenes above – a pretty entrenched campsite that seemed to have been rained out, and another that had been subsequently established just over the ridge. Both sites were carefully placed out of sight of the road, but the first one was sprawled out over the trail, hard to miss.
There was a car with a man sitting in it, parked just below the first camp, along the trail. He was sitting in his car smoking, parked well beyond the boundary of the park. I suspect he is the camper who established at least one of these sites.
This trail is located less than a mile above the Peregrine Point disc golf course, where we once encountered a park ranger who told us the park was closed, and to “get the hell out.” But we regularly see campers in this area, well within the boundaries of the park. I’ve been worried for years, that as they get moved along from one illegal camp to the next, they’re going to move up into the park, and here they are. In 2017, illegal campers started the Stoney Fire, the effects of which you can see in the pictures.
Should I report it or not?
Chico Taxpayers Association 
“…to get out and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. ” And abandoned bum camps and next month we can enjoy our tax increase when we are out and about shopping.
Report it? Why bother? Nothing will be done. This local government is a joke. The only thing it does well is take ever more of our money. They are nothing but pigs at the trough.
1st I have to figure out how to report it. I understand your frustration, I’ve been doing this for years and it doesn’t seem to have a lot of effect
Yes, report it
Thanks Suzanne.
Yes reported if they’re there leaving trash and tearing stuff up then they don’t need to be there
Yes, there have been fires at this location, started by illegal campers. And there’s broken car window glass all over the disc golf parking lot just below this spot, more the other day than we had seen a week or so earlier. Illegal camping is definitely causing a problem in Upper Park.
Yes report this
Thanks I did and will post any response I get.