Touring * Fitness * Artistic *

From State Highway 60 at Moreno Valley east of Riverside, take the Moreno Beach Drive exit, south. This is also the exit for Lake Perris State Recreational Area. Proceed across the valley and climb the hill. Almost three miles from Highway 60, Moreno Beach Drive turns left to go over the hill to Lake Perris. The day-use fee is $6 per car at the entry kiosk. Head toward the lake and take the most westerly driveway into parking lots 1 and 2. You will drive past the trail as you enter the lot.

When you skate at the west end of Lake Perris, you can look forward to a refreshing dip at Sail Cove, the only spot on the lake where no powerboats are allowed. The trip is entirely flat where you cross the entire length of the dam. However, if you love the roller-coaster effect of little hills and dips, you won't want to miss the short section of trail that runs from the parking lot to the north end of the dam. Leave the parking lots behind as you start skating west and enjoy a view of a rocky ridge on the right. (Who lives in that nice home on the hillside? It looks too nice to be park-ranger lodging.) Skate the whoop-de-do's through tough-looking desert scrub, then swoop down to the edge of the soft sand beach of Sail Cove. Round a corner and climb slightly to the northwest, and you've reached the crest of the Lake Perris dam. The crest-top path continues for two miles in a generally north-south direction, approaching the slab granite walls of the Bernasconi Hills on the other side of the lake, where rock climbers practice. From up on the crest you can survey the goings-on at the two fishing piers and compare the wind-sailors' skills with the Jet Skiers'. To the right is a broad view of Perris Valley's green- and brown-gridded fields, with more hills fading into the haze to the west. Two pit-stop areas offer a toilet and partial shade on the trek across this high sunny dam, but no water is available. The trail finally fades to gravel next to the rocky wall near the barricaded waterworks area.