There are many benefits to attending Northwest Vista College. I especially enjoyed rock climbing at the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. The entire trip was free to NVC students and transportation was provided by the college. I have been attending NVC for a couple of semesters, but I have never signed up before because I had no time. I did not know what I was really missing until I went on this trip.

The trip was on a Saturday. I signed up a couple of days before the trip. I was told that the bus was full, but that I could be on the waiting list. I saw that 4 people were ahead of me and I thought I wasn’t going to have a chance to go but I did.

On the morning of the trip, I arrived at 6:30 a.m. at the gym. When I arrived the coordinator had each student read a safety and procedures sheet and then have us sign a waiver. We also were given a pouch with a mini safety kit and bottle of water. I got to meet and talk with other students. We got on the bus about an hour later and it took us an hour and a half to get to Enchanted Rock.

When we got there, we all started walking on the hiking trail and then walked up on some big rocks. There was rock after rock to climb on and some to jump over. I am not in good shape and I struggled going up those rocks, but it was still fun. When we got to the very top it was very windy and I looked around and down and it was such beautiful scenery. Some of the students sat down to rest and others took pictures. After a while we kept going to a different route. There were more rocks to climb on and we got to a place where there was a cave. A couple of students have brought their own headlights because the inside of the cave was pitch black. So the students were split up with some going into the cave and the rest were to meet up at the other side. When we all met up we went back to the bus to have lunch. After lunch we went on the last route and then headed back to NVC. We got back at 5:30 p.m. I had a great time at Enchantment Rock because I met some new friends and enjoyed a free journey.

By Jolene Rodriguez
NVC Ambassador