Beginner * Hockey *

From State Highway 99, exit north on Interstate 59 (J Street). Across the railroad tracks, turn right on 16th Street, and three blocks down, turn left onto G Street. Follow G north about a mile to Yosemite Avenue, where you must turn right, and proceed another mile to the intersection with Lake Road on your left. Follow Lake Road north for another mile to Lake Yosemite County Park. Turn right just inside the entrance and park in the first lot you find. Map: For a free map of the Merced Bike Routes, contact the Merced Conference and Visitors Bureau at the address below.

Yosemite Lake has two very fine parking lots near the baseball field along the southeast border of the park. During off-season or off hours, these long, crescent-shaped asphalt pads are just the right size for anything from practicing backward crossovers to playing roller hockey. When empty, they're an ideal place for first-time skaters. The wide-open scenery makes skating here a very un-urban experience, a real plus if you're from the city. Fields of dense, wild grasses stretch on and on to the south, bending in waves with the breeze. But that's not even the best part: when you stop frolicking long enough to gaze off toward the east, you can see the deep-purple ranges of the Sierra Nevada, their snowcapped peaks still startlingly white in the cooler climes of spring. The roads through the rest of the Yosemite Lake area vary in quality, with none coming close to the ideal smoothness of these two lots.