Everyone who has been following along with me knows that I live close to Yosemite National Park. I’m a big fan of it, and I enjoy any chance I get to make the little over two-hour trek to the park.

Yosemite has been closed because of COVID 19. But, we heard several weeks ago that the park was opening on a limited basis. My friend Jen went online and got a day pass to enter the park. Typically, you don’t need this pass, in 2020, it’s required. Once you enter the park, the pass can be used for seven more days afterward.

June is the best month to float on the Merced River in the Valley. It’s optimal because all of the waterfalls are flowing heavily. Later in the summer, the river is usually slow and low. Generally, in the Valley, you can schedule a raft tour. This summer, it’s not being offered.

We purchased our two-person rafts at Big Five in Fresno. I found them today at Sportsmans Wearhouse right HERE for $16.99. Shortly after entering the Valley, we pulled into Sentinel Beach (near the west end of the park). We locked the bikes that we brought from Fresno on a tree.

We drove to Curry Village and parked the car. Then we proceeded to blow our rafts up.

After the rafts were all filled with air, we walked the short distance to the nearest bridge and loaded into our rafts.

We each brought a water bottle and some snacks for the boat ride. We made sure our snacks were either in a ziplock bag or a waterproof container. We loaded up on sunscreen, wore swimsuits and water shoes (the water shoes ended up being a great way to paddle along). If you had younger children with you, I would recommend putting a life jacket on them. The water isn’t swift, and it’s like floating on a lazy river. It’s a family-friendly activity.

It’s about a three-mile lazy river float. It takes anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours. You end up at Sentinel Beach. One of the best parts of this is you lay there and see the most beautiful views of the Valley. You glimpse Half Dome and Yosemite Falls. One of the jokes from past years was someone kept asking what falls we were seeing. It was Yosemite Falls every time. You wind around and see it from many different angles. You float under four various bridges until you arrive at Sentinel Beach.

After hopping out at the beach, you have the “fun” task of deflating your raft. The picture below is a funny one of all of us lying on our rafts to get the air out.

After we deflated our rafts, we jumped on our bikes, rode back to Curry village, dropped all our gear off, and changed our clothes.

We ended our day buzzing around the Valley floor. Riding bikes in Yosemite Valley is one of my favorite things to do. Bike riding in the Valley is the best way to get around and see everything. I did a whole other blog post on visiting Yosemite. You can check it out HERE. All the photos on this post were taken by myself and my friend Jen on our I-Phones. Jen did the water ones because I’m not brave enough to bring my phone on the river.