One of senior Austin Bell’s favorite parts from his six-day trip were the magnificent sights no matter when or where he was. Bell flew out on March 4 to Las Vegas, Nevada. He met up with his dad who was there for business matters, then they drove to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Bell and his dad had planned this trip a few months prior to leaving.

Even from the plane he already thought it was awesome because of the view.

“I actually flew over the Grand Canyon on the way there so I saw the Canyon from 30,000 feet up and then saw it from the base of the Colorado River. Over the whole trip, I saw many views of the Grand Canyon so that was pretty awesome,” Bell said.

The two encountered problems on the drive out to the Canyon.

“We were on the highway for most of the time, but then we pulled off and had to go through 30 miles off this back dirt road. The night that we went out it was muddy because it had snowed a couple days before and it melted. Our jeep that we rented was creating these massive ruts on the ground and we were sliding all over the road,” Bell said. “We ended up having to stop the car and sleep overnight on the side of the road because it was too muddy to continue. Then, we woke up at 6 in the morning when the roads had frozen over and we were able to drive the rest of the way up to the trailhead. “

Bell and his dad started out at the rim and took the Royal Arch Loop down to the Colorado River which took about two days. They had to rappel down the sides of the cliffs while carrying 40 pound backpacks.

“A lot of times the trail was on the side of a cliff. It was like a foot wide on the side of a cliff where if your foot slipped you’d fall five hundred feet and die so that was a constant fear,” Bell said. “But we had a GPS beacon where you could call out for help if you were in a bad situation.”

Overall, they backpacked the Grand Canyon for 40 miles over four days. They only saw two other people at the trailhead but other than that it was just him and his dad which he thought was surreal.

“Out of all the physical, demanding stuff including sports and other activities, that’s honestly one of the hardest things I have ever done. Every single day my legs were sore, my back hurt, and I was tired but that was definitely one of the most amazing experiences of my life,” Bell said.

Bell came back on Wednesday, March 10.

“I probably went to bed at around 2:30 in the morning and woke up at 7 to come to school,” Bell said. “That was like a depressing day coming back to the real world after spending four days out in the wilderness.”