Here’s a ski tour report of the recent Tour de Pearl Creek by tour leader Joel Young:

It was a great day out in the Pearl Creek Community Nordic Park on Sunday the 27th! Trails were freshly groomed Thursday evening by Sam Dashevsky (thanks Sam!) and a layer of fresh powder instead of freezing rain greeted us on Sunday morning. We started as a group of four but finished as a group of five after a late arrival followed our fresh tracks to catch up! Signs of moose were about but no sightings fortunately.

We started on the north side of Herreid Road and completed an Outer East Loop out to the power line on the north end and then back around past the Pearl Creek Farm Cabin on the West Outer Loop.

Next, we took our time exploring the various outer and inner loops on the south side of Herreid. We went down Fox Trot up the Old Ski Field. Then it was Commuter Trail down to Thrill Hill up Rabbit Run back to Puffin Loop to Shaun’s Trail. We finished out on Castor Trail and up to the School Field. In total it was about 4 miles and two hours of ski time. I attempted to provide some history of the area as best I knew and will study up more for the next tour!

Here are some pics of the tour. Look on the Skarland and Pearl Creek Trails Facebook page under the files tab for a map pdf of the trails and a pdf file to ‘Parrish respecting our routes’ for history of Skarland Trail and trail development in the Dog Patch area of which Pearl Creek Park is a part.

Happy skiing!