lake perris

My wife and I drove out to the Lake Perris State Recreation Area over the weekend to hike up to Terri Peak. We learned about this hike from a tip on Facebook (find more places to hike). At a height of 2,569 feet (per the official brochure), Terri Peak overlooks Lake Perris and offers views in all directions.

According to the map you receive from the guard station, there are two trailheads to reach Terri Peak. One begins at the Indian Museum near the Perris entrance and the other begins at a parking lot near the Moreno Valley entrance. We planned to start the hike at the museum, but the parking lot was closed so we headed to the parking lot near the Horse Camp. That lot was closed too, so we parked on the side of the dirt road that leads to the Horse Camp.

We found a paved trail leading up from the parking lot, so we started there.

The trail leads to an amphitheater, but we didn’t see an obvious trail leading toward the mountain. We walked back to the parking lot and started walking up a dirt trail, but that also led to the amphitheater.

The only clearly marked trail that we found led in the opposite direction. We decided to see if it would wrap around and take us in the right direction.

The trail met with another trail that headed in the right direction, so we kept going.

We ended up wrapping back around to the top of the amphitheater and found the overgrown trail we should have taken.

After a little more walking, we also learned that we could have just walked straight up the road we parked on instead of walking over to the parking lot to find the trailhead.

Once we were on the trail, it was pretty easy to follow, although there were still some spots that were obscured by brush.

This appeared to be the tip-top, so I climbed up to take a look (Caution: I don’t recommend climbing up. A fall could have been disastrous.):

I would love to hike this again on a clear day…

It was a fun hike, and in addition to the views, we saw a few critters and a lot of flowers:

We also saw Kid Rock:

According to my Garmin, it was 2.37 miles from the parking lot to Terri Peak with a gain of 991 feet. We didn’t set a speed record, as we took our time to enjoy the scenery and take pictures.

Since some portions of the trails were overgrown, we missed the beginning of the hike from the amphitheater, but you can clearly see the route we would have taken by zooming in to the old satellite image.

Lake Perris is in Perris, CA, which is in Riverside County. If you would like to learn more about Terri Peak or Lake Perris, here is the official website:

www.parks.ca.gov

Looking for more hiking spots in and around the Inland Empire? Check out our list of Places to Hike in Riverside and Beyond.

Lake Perris State Recreation Area
17801 Lake Perris Drive
Perris, Ca 92571

We went to the opening night of the Southern California Fair last night at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds.

We haven’t been to this fair in quite a few years, so it was nice to get back out there and support our local fair. By the way, if you’re curious why it is called the Southern California Fair instead of the Riverside County Fair or the Lake Perris Fair (I was curious), visit the Fair’s history page.

FAIR HISTORY
The Southern California Fair sponsored by the 46th District Agricultural Association, was established in 1925 when a number of Riverside leaders lobbied for the first official fair for the region, known as the Southern California Fair, Riverside. With the onset of the Great Depression, the Fair was unable to operate. In 1936, it relocated and became known as the Hemet Utility Turkey Show. Held to generate interest in the turkey industry, the show became popular and other events were soon added.
In 1946, following World War II, the show became known as the Farmers Fair of Riverside County. In 1947, the 46th DAA acquired a 40-acre site in Hemet, where the Fair remained for 40 years. In 1987, the Fair moved to its present 108-acre site at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds, adjacent to the Lake Perris recreational area. Since its move, the Fair has grown significantly in size, along with the surrounding community, to become one of the area’s largest annual events.

My favorite thing to do at this fair is watch the motorsports events in the arena. Last night we watched the figure eight trailer and car races, and we might go back next week to watch the monster trucks or demolition derby.

I didn’t notice any crazy food stands like the ones at the OC Fair. Maybe I missed them, but I didn’t see any fried butter, chocolate covered bacon, etc. stands anywhere. There is plenty to eat though… barbecue, Mexican food, corn dogs, hot dogs, funnel cakes, and more.