Survey
Confirm inventory, access, packing needs and both addresses.
LONG-DISTANCE ROUTE / NV → CA
Reno → Chico. One Move Plan.
A practical route guide for planning the load, timing and delivery between Reno, NV and Chico, CA.
USDOT 3421940 · MC 1416634 · Licensed & Insured
RENO → ROUTE → CHICO → DELIVERY
- Distance
- 155 miles
- Drive estimate
- 3-3.5 hours
- Move window
- 2-3 days
- Primary route
- US-395 N out of Reno to CA-70 W down the Feather River Canyon into Chico
CORRIDOR NOTES
What This Route Changes.
Distances and drive times are planning estimates. Exact access, timing and delivery details are confirmed for each address before the move.
The Reno-to-Chico move takes one of the most scenic routes Murdock’s runs: north on US-395 out of Reno, then west on CA-70 down the Feather River Canyon, tracing the river past Quincy, the powerhouse dams and the twisting canyon grade before the Sierra opens into the northern Sacramento Valley and the orchards around Oroville and Chico. It is about 155 miles, and because CA-70 is a narrow, curving mountain highway, Murdock’s plans the drive around canyon conditions, seasonal closures and slower transit rather than a flat freeway pace.
Murdock’s is an owner-operated carrier moving on our own USDOT 3421940 and CPUC Cal-T authority, never a broker. The same crew that wraps and loads your home in Reno is the crew that unloads it in Chico, and your belongings stay on one dedicated truck through the entire canyon run with no terminal transfers or shared linehaul. We time loading and delivery around the daylight canyon drive so nothing is rushed on the grade.
ORIGIN → ROUTE → DESTINATION
The Long-Distance Checkpoints.
Plan
Set the crew, equipment, route and communication expectations.
Protect + Load
Prepare furniture and the home before loading begins.
Deliver
Work through arrival access, placement and the final walkthrough.
DESTINATION BRIEF
Arriving in Chico.
- A green, walkable college town with Bidwell Park and Sierra foothills at the doorstep
- Lower home prices and cost of living than the Reno-Tahoe market
- A relaxed, community-centered pace anchored by CSU Chico and a lively downtown
- Jobs in education, healthcare and agriculture, plus a growing post-Camp-Fire housing market
- Room to spread out into foothill and rural properties near Paradise and Oroville
Chico is the largest city in Butte County and the classic Northern California college town, built around California State University, Chico. It has a lively, walkable downtown of brick storefronts, breweries and coffee shops, and it wraps around Bidwell Park, one of the largest municipal parks in the country, with creek swimming holes and miles of trail running up into the foothills. For people leaving Reno, Chico offers a green, tree-canopied valley town at the edge of the Sierra with a slower pace and lower prices than the Reno-Tahoe market.
The area has been through real change since the 2018 Camp Fire in nearby Paradise, and Chico absorbed much of that rebuilding and growth, so the market spans historic university-adjacent bungalows, established family neighborhoods and newer subdivisions on the north and east sides. Popular places to land include the Avenues near downtown and campus, California Park around its lake, the newer homes in northwest Chico, and the foothill communities in and around Paradise and Oroville for buyers who want more land.
Move day here ranges from tight, tree-lined streets and older homes with porches and stairs near campus to open suburban lots with driveways and garages. Murdock’s handles all of it door to door, with full-service packing, furniture disassembly and reassembly, and careful protection for older homes, hardwood floors and anything fragile riding down the canyon.
NEXT DISPATCH
Tell Us Where You’re Going.
Tell us the Reno origin, the Chico destination and what needs to move. We’ll help build the route plan.