Shew's Life Adventures

42 grown mans steps to circle one of these beautiful giants base. Though our time was short in the park we tried to pack in as much as we could. We were extremely lucky to have arrived to the park on a Sunday night and leaving early Tuesady morning. On the weekends the park closes several of the park's roads to park shuttle traffic only. But since we were there on a weekday, the park was not busy and all roads were open to private vehicles. We traveled down to the Giant Forrest and parked at the museum. After talking to a ranger in the museum we determined we would take the shuttle up to the General Sherman trail then connect to several other trails and make our way back to the museum.  The hike would end up taking 2.5 hours. The General Sherman trail is a very short and crowded trail showcasing the largest tree in the world. It is extremely difficult to take pictures without others in the background. The area is small and everyone is trying to get pictures by the General. A

Though our visit was short what we got to experience was worth the trip. But first we needed to get through the excitement of driving to the campground. We arrived late in the evening after the park entrance gates were closed for the night. I believe they must only be opened 8-5 each day.  Since the gate was closed we didn't receive the park map or event guide usually given to visitors. Little did we know we had just crossed the point of no return and we in for a very eventful night.  We had camping reservations for the Lodgepole campground only twenty-one miles from the entrance.  If we had received the map we would have seen that the Generals Highway is not recommended for vehicles over twenty-two feet.  Pulling our travel trailer behind Tyler's truck made our vehicle length around 50 feet.  As we started to raise into the mountain the drive slowed down immensely.  The twenty-one miles to Lodgepole ending up taking us almost two hours. The climb started as you could ima

The Superintendent It's funny the life lessons we learn when we least expect it. While on vacation my husband and I took a long hike up the Narrows in Zion National Park. Not realizing that the hike was going to be much more time and energy consuming then we anticipated, our plans for dinner got squashed. The plan was to hike the Narrows for a few hours then drive the 45 minutes to an hour back to the campground and cook the chicken breasts we had waiting in the fridge. Well, miles and miles into the Narrows with the day slipping away we realized around 5 p.m. that once we got back to the beginning of the trail, caught the shuttle, rode back all nine shuttle stops, and then walked the half mile back to the truck which was parked on a main street in the park because the shuttle parking lot was full earlier that day, that dinner was going to be anything we could grab along the way. The town of Springdale sits just outside the south entrance to the park. Bei