Fitness * Beginner * Artistic *

From U.S. 395, exit at the Mammoth Lakes junction, State Highway 203 heading west. Take Center Street, the second left just beyond the Old Mammoth Road stoplight, and immediately turn right to get onto Main Street South, the frontage road beside busy Highway 203. Park in the business parking lot near the intersection with Manzanita, the first street to the left, or near any of the intersections with the next three streets that run north-south to connect Main Street South with Meridian.

This downtown Mammoth Lakes neighborhood is a good place for checking out the resident youth culture while skating a few laps to get an aerobic workout. A recent repaving project left some prime in-line surfaces in what locals call the ghetto, a forested enclave of small, older A-frames whose residents range from ski or snowboard addicts to serious athletes to folks just trying to make a living in one of California's biggest playlands.

As with most of the roads in Mammoth Lakes, there are no painted bike paths here, but traffic is generally scant enough that you can skate in the street without any problems. Smooth pavement runs up and down four half-mile-long, north-south streets: Joaquin, Lupin, Mono, and Manzanita, with Dorrance Drive crossing them east-west at the midway point. The southern border is wide Meridian Road, and at the north end is Main Street South, a low-traffic and equally fine frontage road, with a gradual westward incline that parallels the rise of Highway 203 nearby.