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California: Sacramento Valley, foothills

64 images Created 2 Apr 2011

As the home town for Tom Dempsey's childhood, Chico and the surrounding Sacramento Valley and foothills attract him back regularly to visit his lovely parents. Photos from the Central Valley and foothills of California include: Bidwell Mansion, Bidwell Park, California State University Chico (CSUC), Sutter Buttes panorama and sunny oaks with hiker silhouette, almond orchard leaves turning yellow, Manzanita tree flower blooms, pipevine flower, Acorn Woodpecker, child's hand in black bear paw print, California poppies, lavender poppies, Honey Run Covered Bridge built 1894 between Chico and Paradise, fawn lily (Erythronium californicum), flowers on North Table Mountain Biological Reserve near Oroville, and Feather Falls.

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  • The Peace Valley tract of the Sutter Buttes was purchased from private ranchers in 2003 by California Department of Parks and Recreation for a future state park. The Sutter Buttes, notable as the world's smallest mountain range (10 miles across), are a small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes which rise above the flat plains of the Sacramento Valley (the northern part of the Central Valley of California, USA), just outside of Yuba City. The highest peak, South Butte, reaches about 2,130 feet (650 m) above sea level. The Buttes formed over 1.5 million years ago by a now-extinct volcano. They are named for John Sutter, who received a large land grant from the Mexican government. Published in March 2011 issue of The Pipevine, newsletter of Mount Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society.
    0911CA-020_hiker-oaks_Sutter-Buttes.jpg
  • Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park is a beautiful, three-story, 26 room Victorian House Museum and memorial to John and Annie Bidwell in Chico, California. Beginning in 1865 at his Rancho del Arroyo Chico, John Bidwell built the Italianate style brick mansion with modern plumbing, flush toilets, gas lighting, and wall to wall carpeting. John Bidwell was born on the east coast to a poor farming family in 1819. He eventually became a key figure in California history, famous as a true pioneer, statesman, politician, prohibitionist, and philanthropist. John Bidwell became wealthy from gold, participated in the Bear Flag Revolt, lobbied in Washington D.C. for California's statehood, advanced agriculture, was nominated for US President, and founded the town of Chico. Annie Ellicott Kennedy Bidwell, the daughter of a socially prominent, high ranking Washington official, was deeply religious and committed to the suffrage and prohibition movements. After their marriage in 1868, Bidwell Mansion became the social and cultural center of the upper Sacramento Valley. General John Bidwell died in 1900, followed by Annie in 1918. Now a museum, Bidwell Mansion SHP is California Historical Landmark #329 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Address: 525 Esplanade, Chico, California, USA 95926.
    1111CA2-066_Bidwell-Mansion-Chico-CA.jpg
  • Honey Run Covered Bridge was built in 1894 on Butte Creek, halfway between Chico and Paradise in Butte County, California, USA. Pedestrians and bicycles can cross, but a damaging car crash in 1965 closed the bridge to auto traffic, which was rerouted to a steel bridge upstream. Chinook salmon and steelhead runs have been restored to Butte Creek, which flows 93 miles through a scenic volcanic canyon in Butte County.
    1311CA-006_Honey-Run-Covered-Bridge.jpg
  • 1812CA-24.jpg
  • Erythronium californicum (common name California fawn lily) is a species of flowering plant in the family Liliaceae, endemic to moist woodland habitats in the mountains of Northern California. Hike in Forks of Butte Creek Recreation Area, on Federal BLM land, California, USA. Directions from Chico: drive northeast on State Highway 32, 20 miles to Forest Ranch, then southeast on Garland Road (graded dirt road), then left on Doe Mill Road. It is about 4.75 miles to Butte Creek trailhead from Highway 32.
    1404CA-23_Erythronium-californicum.jpg
  • Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) wildflowers bloom pink at North Table Mountain Biological Reserve on April 7, 2014, near Oroville, California, USA. Created by ancient lava (basalt) flows, Table Mountain is an elevated basalt mesa with beautiful vistas of spring wildflowers, waterfalls, lava outcrops, and a rare type of vernal pool, called Northern Basalt Flow Vernal Pools.
    1403SWC-352_Table-Mountain-Reserve.jpg
  • Blue lupin / lupine (Lupinus genus) and yellow wildflowers bloom around a majestic oak tree at North Table Mountain Biological Reserve, April 7, 2014, Oroville, California, USA. Created by ancient lava (basalt) flows, Table Mountain is an elevated basalt mesa with beautiful vistas of spring wildflowers, waterfalls, lava outcrops, and a rare type of vernal pool, called Northern Basalt Flow Vernal Pools.
    1404CA-72_Table-Mountain-Reserve.jpg
  • Big Chico Creek Canyon, Upper Bidwell Park, Chico, Butte County, California, USA. Land donation by Annie Bidwell (widow of Chico's founder, John Bidwell) began the park in 1905. Today Bidwell Park is the third largest municipal park in California, stretching nearly 11 miles (18 km) along Big Chico Creek; Upper Park is in the foothills of the southernmost Cascades. Rock formations include the unique Chico Formation sandstone and Lovejoy Basalt rocks.
    1311CA-070-p1_Bidwell-Park.jpg
  • Ladybird beetles hybernate in Feather Falls Scenic Area, along the trail to Feather Falls, within Plumas National Forest, Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Butte County, California, USA. Coccinellidae is a widespread family of small beetles commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Britain, though entomologists prefer the more accurate name ladybird beetles.
    1812CA-14.jpg
  • The Peace Valley tract of the Sutter Buttes was purchased from private ranchers in 2003 by California Department of Parks and Recreation for a future state park. The Sutter Buttes, notable as the world's smallest mountain range (10 miles across), are a small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes which rise above the flat plains of the Sacramento Valley (the northern part of the Central Valley of California, USA), just outside of Yuba City. The highest peak, South Butte, reaches about 2,130 feet (650 m) above sea level. The Buttes formed over 1.5 million years ago by a now-extinct volcano. They are named for John Sutter, who received a large land grant from the Mexican government. Published in March 2011 issue of The Pipevine, newsletter of Mount Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Panorama stitched from 5 overlapping photos.
    0911CA-026-30pan_Sutter-Buttes.jpg
  • A child's hand indicates the size of a black bear paw print on the ground in Upper Bidwell Park, Chico, Butte County, California, USA.
    04DEC-0045_black-bear-paw-print_chil...jpg
  • Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus). Upper Bidwell Park, Chico, Butte County, California, USA.
    1311CA-020_Acorn-Woodpecker.jpg
  • California Sycamore (Platanus racemosa) along the Yahi Trail in Upper Bidwell Park, Chico, Butte County, California, USA.
    1311CA-030_California-Sycamore-tree.jpg
  • Annie Bidwell Trail, Upper Bidwell Park, Chico, Butte County, California, USA. On Highway 32 drive 9 miles east of Highway 99 to the green gate parking lot, and hike a 4 mile loop on 10 Mile House Trail to Annie Bidwell Trail to Bloody Pin Trail to Guardian Trail.
    1412CA2-001_Annie-Bidwell-Trail.jpg
  • Fall foliage colors brighten the Chico State campus. California State University, Chico (CSUC) is the second-oldest campus (1887) in the state's 23-campus system. The current administration building Kendall Hall was built on the site of the Normal School in 1929. The university is still commonly called "Chico State" after the 1935-1972 Chico State College and 1921-1935 Chico State Teacher's College. Chico State teaches nearly 16,000 students and is known for academic excellence in engineering, science, computing, business, technology, environmental studies, Theatre Arts, and communication.
    1111CA2-079.jpg
  • The California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) is the official state flower of California, USA.
    10CHI-009.jpg
  • Almond orchard leaves turn yellow in late November near the Sutter Buttes, Yuba City, California, USA.
    0911CA-040_almond-orchard-yellow-lea...jpg
  • Big Chico Creek Canyon, Upper Bidwell Park, Chico, Butte County, California, USA. Land donation by Annie Bidwell (widow of Chico's founder, John Bidwell) began the park in 1905. Today Bidwell Park is the third largest municipal park in California, stretching nearly 11 miles (18 km) along Big Chico Creek; Upper Park is in the foothills of the southernmost Cascades. Rock formations include the unique Chico Formation sandstone and Lovejoy Basalt rocks.
    1311CA-082_Bidwell-Park.jpg
  • White and lavender poppy flowers thrive by a fence in Chico, California, USA.
    10CHI-039.jpg
  • Big Chico Creek carves through a Miocene basalt canyon near the Diversion Dam in Upper Bidwell Park, in the foothills of the southernmost Cascades, Chico, California, USA. Its Lovejoy Basalt rocks formed from very-fluid lava flows 18 to 19 million years ago. Photographed December 2018. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1812CA-01-09-Pano.jpg
  • Red heart-shaped leaf. Upper Bidwell Park, Chico, Butte County, California, USA.
    1311CA-038.jpg
  • A Manzanita tree (genus Arctostaphylos) blooms in Upper Bidwell Park, Chico, California, USA. The word manzanita means "little apple" - a Spanish diminutive of manzana, or apple, referring to its usually edible berries which form in spring and summer.
    1012CAL-047_Manzanita-tree-bloom.jpg
  • Pipevine (genus: Aristolochia), Bidwell Park, Chico, California, USA. The aromatic flowers attract and trap insects with a specialized pollination mechanism. Insects are attracted deep into the bend of flower by the smell of nector and further by light transmitted through the more transparent top of the flower. The inner part of the perianth tube is covered with inward directed hairs which trap insects. The hairs later wither to release the fly, covered with pollen.
    1012CAL-058.jpg
  • The California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) is the official state flower of California, USA.
    10CHI-030.jpg
  • Honey Run Covered Bridge was built in 1894 halfway between Chico and Paradise in Butte County, California, USA. Butte Creek (93 miles long) flows through a scenic volcanic canyon in Butte County, California, USA. Chinook salmon and steelhead runs have been restored to the stream.
    10CHI-062.jpg
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