SUMMER HEAT INTERMISSION
As summer continues to unfold, the chances of each day becoming sweltering hot is more consistent, and locals are breaking out their inner tubes.
Kari Johnson and her daughters Alexis Wilson, 8, and Malena Wilson, 5, spent the day Tuesday splashing around at Riverbend Park in Oroville.
“We love to go tubing here — we like to start at the top of the park and go all the way down,” Johnson said.
Johnson, her family and friend Paige Haak have been coming to Riverbend Park at least twice a week in June.
Haak said though she’d never done it herself, some people go tubing down the Feather River beginning all the way at the Feather River Fish Hatchery, taking about one and a half hours to reach Riverbend Park.
Ellen Hanson is a visitor to Oroville and stopped by Riverbend Beach with her dog Yogi while in town to see her son.
“This is really nice here, but the water’s cold,” Hanson said.
Yogi, a long coat German shepherd, ran around in the water tugging Hanson around with the leash,
seeming to enjoy the cold water.
At the Butte Creek Canyon Ecological Preserve in Chico, Sara Stewart and her friends spent the day by the water Tuesday to take a break from the heat.
“We just beat the heat. This is one of our more favorite spots. Even with our personal friend group — a bunch of us grew up here in Chico,” Stewart said.
“This is our third, fourth time coming out this year, and it’s just been really great and mellow.”
Stewart’s son Griffin Stewart, 10, slid down the rocks on an inflatable into a deeper pool of water.
Stewart said she’d been coming to the ecological preserve off and on since she was a kid, but a recent event happened to be one of her most memorable.
“About last Monday there was a DIY punk show underneath the bridge. It was all ages and we didn’t turn away,” Stewart said. “We literally sat down here all day, and swam and had community, then walked up and went to a punk rock show and rode our bicycles home.
“It was very reminiscent of what like old Chico used to be.”