Touring * Beginner *

From Groveland, follow Highway 120 (Tioga Pass Road) east to the entrance of Yosemite National Park. Pay the $20 entrance fee (good for the next seven days at any national park, as long as you (save your receipt). At Crane Flat, continue straight ahead to bypass the Tioga Pass turnoff and go another 10 miles to the Yosemite Valley via New Big Oak Flat Road. Pass through the valley floor until just past the chapel. Turn left to cross a bridge over the Merced River heading toward Yosemite Village; when you reach the village, turn left onto the one-way road that heads back toward the park entrance. Park in one of the Yosemite Falls lots. The bike path starts at the west end of the parking lots, heading toward the meadows through the series of small huts in the Yosemite Lodge/Sunnyside Walk-In Campground.

Bear with me (pardon the Yosemite pun) as you pass through a non-scenic section of Yosemite Valley. Farther on, after the sandy trip past the green wooden walk-in huts and around the rather barren employee housing, the scenery once again meets Yosemite standards.

Pass the sand test, and you earn a beautiful vista of a grassy meadow, the glistening Merced River, and the unmistakable profile of Cathedral Rocks across the valley, framed by tall pines. Down the meadow you roll, until you reach the swinging bridge over the river. Fortunately, it doesn't swing noticeably. Across the river, the trail passes a picnic area

in the trees and curves up the meadow, running close to Southside Drive and its camera-snapping crowds. On a busy day, rather than fighting your way through the tourist throngs, you might as well join 'em: take a moment to sit on the low wooden fence to admire the view of Yosemite Falls. Past the chapel, the trail veers back across the meadow toward the village; once it meets the road, cross to the other side to return to your starting point on the paved bike path.

• Yosemite Falls to Curry Village