Mountain Day Memories

It can mean only one thing when the bells peal at 7 AM for a full five minutes: it's Mountain Day! Vanloads of students are heading to Mt. Holyoke, aka Skinner State Park, where everyone from firsties to seniors will hike to the top. President Creighton and Dean Penny Gill will join students at noon for an ice-cream celebration. As it was on the very first Mountain Day in 1838, classes will be canceled and the library closed. At this time each year, alumnae around the world get in touch to share their personal Mountain Day memories. You can add you own memories below or send a Mountain Day e-card.

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Here are a few of the warm reminiscences we received last fall:

One of my best Mountain Days came several years after I graduated. I was working in Cambridge and my college roommate, Susan Stubbs Martin, and her husband were living near the College. They made me promise that I would call in sick and come out if they declared Mountain Day. One gorgeous fall day I got a call early in the morning saying, "It's Mountain Day!" I called in sick, as promised, and headed west. The three of us had a splendid Mountain Day taking walks, visiting cider stands and driving through pretty NE towns in the area. It was a special day I've never forgotten, even though it wasn't an official Mountain Day!"

Deborah (Jones) Hall '63

It is a gorgeous day here in southeastern Michigan, and I am going to go outside this minute to enjoy it before getting back to work at my desk. My office windows look out over our Donor Memorial Garden at Midwest Eye-Banks, so I have a great view, but I want to sniff the air and remember Mountain Days with Nancy Kelley, Margaret Coulter, Gail Lennstrom, Nancy Mahood, Ellen Brown and Kathy Joyce, who - though 61 (except for Gail, who is only 60!) -remain 20 in my mind's eye!

Susan d'Olive Mozena '67

Thank you so much for brightening my work day with thoughts and memories of Mountain Day! There is a big part of me that would like to give my whole team the day off to go enjoy a beautiful fall day!

Kathryn Carson '80

Enjoyed the Mountain Day message. I live in Orleans, Cape Cod, MA and there aren't any mountains close by. However, the idea of taking a "day off" to enjoy my surroundings is a wonderful one. I do enjoy beautiful surroundings every day but don't explore as much as I did when we vacationed here. I continue to enjoy all my MHC connections.

Martha Gray Livingston '60

Thanks for the message! I did not know it was Mountain Day today, but it is a perfect day here in New Jersey also and I have been lucky enough to have been out to enjoy it. With best wishes to everyone in South Hadley and happy thoughts of Mountain Days past,

Peggy Baggaley '76

Thank you so much for the Mountain Day e-mail! At least my students thank you. In honor of the event, we celebrate Frolic Day - kind of hard to do Mountain Day here on the plains of Kansas.

Betsy Ross '65

Happy Mountain Day 2006! In the '70s, Mountain Day was held later in the season, at the peak of the fall color, rather than in September. Mountain Day was very important for the Outing Club, our board planned hiking trips of all levels of difficulty. The Mountain Day trips I remember are Mt. Mondanock, N.H., Mt. Greylock, in N.W. Mass., and the Holyoke Range from the Notch to Mt. Holyoke. I'd love to hear from other former O.C. presidents and pals of my era... Sandi Johnson, Margie McMath, and Melanie Weed, are you still hiking?

Elizabeth Stone '75

As today is Mountain Day, I started thinking about my most memorable experience. My first Mountain Day was the summer between my junior and senior year in high school. I was at MHC for the SummerMath program (and not because I was in any way good at math!). We woke in the morning, ready for the math lab when the bells began to ring. None of us had any idea what was going on except for our RAs, MHC students themselves. Needless to say it was a wonderful break from the daily routine and great fun for all of us to hike as a group to the top of Skinner Mountain. That was the icing on the cake for me. I just knew I had to go to Mount Holyoke after that."

Erinn Kindig '96

Robin Leach Harris '76
25 Sep 2007, 14:44

On Mountain Day '07 I quickly phoned my wonderful MHC friends Karen Hendricks, Janet Cormier, Linda Jones Edwards and Gay Abel-Bey and shared laughter and stories with each of them for a few minutes. Thanks for this day which serves as a reminder to take time out of busy schedules to renew friendships.

Cynthia Killough '89
25 Sep 2007, 16:10

On our sophmore year Mountain Day, Amanda Grace '89, Tina Cady '89, Annette Maass '89, Deborah Friedman '89, and Julie Silver '89 went to the Quabbin reservoir for the day in Tina's new Chevy Spectrum (Tina was the only one who had wheels!) On the way, we stopped at a fish farm and fed the fish; afterwards we went to Northampton for ice cream I was worried the whole time about needing to work on my French paper on the image of women in Celtic times! But the day solidified friendships that I still cherish today, and the memory of the day outlives the paper that eventually got done!

Jody Phillips-Clark '82
25 Sep 2007, 19:06

Oh my goodness, do I have a Mountain Day memory! Sophomore year, a group of us drove part way up Mount Holyoke and hiked the rest of the way up to the Mountain House. We enjoyed the view and ate the snacks we had brought. On the way down, the trail was a bit slippery since it had rained the night before. I actually went off the trail to collect some birch bark to send to my brother in school in Colorado at the time. Wouldn't you know, I slipped down a ravine and broke my arm! My friends and I didn't realize it was broken (I just thought it was a bad sprain) until we got back to MHC and the infirmary sent me on to Holyoke Hospital for x-rays and a cast! I can report that the fracture healed and my other three Mountain Days were glorious fall days. However, sophomore year was certainly the most memorable!

Jennifer Travis Fout '97
25 Sep 2007, 20:39

What I love about Mountain day, then and now, is that is reminds me how much I treasure my MHC friends. I remember senior year getting out of the shower to hear the bells toll. I had class off campus so I thought it was a missed day of sleeping-in and was going to be like any other day of classes. However, when I returned to campus, my friends were ready to head to the Notch. We had a great day, shared so many laughs and took one of my most treasured college pictures. Still today I don't get to sleep-in because I am off to work. However, the several emails I receive on Mountain Day are like my experience senior year. The emails remind me how friends make each day special even when it starts out ordinary.

Andrea Fitzgerald Metcalf '1995
26 Sep 2007, 00:52

I remember running up Skinner Mountain my first year of college with the MHC Cross Country team. What a challenge to jog up that mountain ..... and an even bigger challenge to come back down! The three years following I continued to enjoy Mountain Day, but I reached the top via car instead two times and hiked up once. My last year at MHC, several of my friends and I drove to the Quarry. We visited the locale where the Joseph Skinner Musuem home was once physically located. New England coffee, granola, fresh sandwiches, beautiful blue skies, warm fleece jackets and great girlfriends..... Mountain Day is always a delightful event to remember!

Jean Valens Bullard !46
26 Sep 2007, 01:20

Mountain Day in l945, my senior year, was special because Betsy Rathbun had her family's old wooden panneled station wagon. We piled in - Anne Hills, Carnie Weddell, Barbara Ripley, Ellen Hilles, my roommate Mary Ellen Steer, and me. We climbed Mount Holyoke and did lots of singing.My problem is that at age 83 so many classmates have died so I cannot phone them about Mountain Day. I am still active. Went on a labyrinth hike last weekend with nephews. Am looking forward to snow time as I am still an avid downhill skier. I have a great time giving free ski lessons.Outing Club trips and Mountain Days are choice MHC memories for me. "Val" 1946

Natalie McNelis
26 Sep 2007, 03:51

It was Mountain Day on my birthday this year! The bells ringing for "full five minutes" really got me -- I remember so much how excited I was, hearing that! It seemed to go on for so long, and we were all running around the halls, as thrilled as little kids, and so excited for our day. I never slept in on Mountain Day; once we heard the bells, we were too keyed up to snooze, and we got dressed immediately and hit the road!

Joyce Trygstad Nelson '72
03 Oct 2007, 14:46

Mountain Days from 1968 - 1971 were so special, even though I sometimes felt uncertain about how to celebrate. I do remember a lovely time at Quabbin Reservoir Sophomore year. And a gorgeous walk through the woods (somewhere) Freshman year. I was not so out-doors oriented then, but I have made up for it since! Our crisp air, deep blue skies and golden-aspen covered mountains here in Colorado are spectacular. There is nothing better than a hike down a high-altitude trail, happy dog at one's side, and maybe a happy family along, too, birds flitting in the nearby trees, a fox slinking across the trail ahead, elk herds bugling in a distant meadow of amber-orange grasses, maybe a beaver slapping in an upstream pond! This treasure that I almost missed now surrounds me. I only wish I could share it with my college friends, who remain so close to my heart - Chris Jacox, Pris Regan, Judy Reynolds, Maggie McClean, Betty Wilson, Phebe Perry, Nancy Brown, Judy Leon, Jude Braugher, Bonnie Stetson, Margaret Miller, Nancy Clark, Betty Shum, and many others with whom I laughed and cried, and shared those wonderful but difficult years from 1968-1972.

Louise Miller
05 Oct 2007, 19:27

I remember going up with Barbara Howick and Barbara Burns and seeing a temperature inversion
as we went up the Mountain.

Susan Bushey Manning
24 Sep 2008, 11:09

My first Mountain Day rocked! I had just cemented friendships that I still have with Mead firsties! We made a mix tape -- yes, on a cassette -- and then took the bus to Atkins for apples, cider and donuts of course. The other Mtn Days were equally enjoyed. Even my mother was excited when it was Mountain Day. She died two years ago, but I still say to her -- wherever she is -- It's Mountain Day Ma, thanks for sending me to MHC. I'd be a different person had I not gone...I can't imagine my life without my MHC friends!

Susan Bushey Manning '96

Elizabeth Lang
24 Sep 2008, 11:12

As delightful as the memories of my South Hadley Mt. Days are, I believe that they are outshined by the last 25 years or so of spectacular Mt. Days (now Mt. Week-ends, soon to be Mt. Weeks, I hope) that I have celebrated in a wide variety of beauteous locales up and down the US East coast (and into Canada) with my Mount Holyoke classmates and other Mount Holyoke alums to whom we have become attached over the years. We NEVER forget to have ice cream.

Marilyn Schapiro '72
24 Sep 2008, 11:19

Freshman Year I joined the group going to Mt.Tom. Sophomore Year it was the hike from the Notch up to the spot where you can see the Ox-bow of the Connecticut River--I have a reproduction on my wall of the Thomas Cole painting of exactly that view--the original is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. (Junior Year I was aborad in Scotland.) Senior Year I was with a group that climbed Mt. Greylock.

All wonderful memories that will forever tie me to the landscapes of New England in the Fall! Happy Mountain Day, everyone!

Kathy Blaisdell '86
24 Sep 2008, 11:22

Jeepers. I was shy back then. I guess I still am.

Since I rowed crew, the bells pealed after I returned from our team's early morning row ... I was a bit confused and then realized ... FREE DAY! MOUNTAIN DAY!

I remember apples and smiles and hiking and gladness. I guess Holyoke sisters are all connected in some or many ways -- even Mountain Day!

Finally, I would like to wish my friend, another Mount Holyoke alumna, Diane, a Happy Birthday!

Thanks,
Kathy

Nancy Cook Murray '55
24 Sep 2008, 11:22

The Mountain Day I remember most vividly was the year some friends and I walked to Amherst, via the river route, to play tennis. Exhausted, that never happened, but we did have fun!

Janot Mendler
24 Sep 2008, 11:54

Mtn Day reminiscences of bucolic hiking and outdoor adventures always make me laugh - because my memories of Mountain Day are all about being covered in dust, hair and static cling. No, I didn't spend my mountain days in the basement laundry rooms of MHC dorms - that's what things like Columbus Day wknd and
Thanksgiving were for: lugging 1/2 a semester's worth of laundry back to Boston for dumping at home! No, I was out in the old MHC barn (which I could keep an eye on across upper lake from my freshman & sophomore windows in Ham & McGregor) with my sister Suzette and some of the other horsey girls for whom Mountain Day was the perfect time to get out the industrial clippers and shear our nags. This annual ritual gained us some outdoor fall riding time since without a full winter coat our horses would sweat less, cool down dry and avoid risk of chills from heavy wet fur. However the net effect on Mountain Day was to transfer all that fur to one's self, so my instant memory is that feeling of being covered in horse hair - something like spending a day wearing a bear costume.

Kristin McNamara '97
24 Sep 2008, 12:01

Mountain Day can only mean the best chocolate chip cookies ever and lots of laughs with friends! My fondest memory is road-tripping with Lauren Barbour '96 and Candace White '95 to Lewiston, Maine, to visit Candace's beau. It was my first trip to Maine. (Being from Ohio, I had different expectations of what Maine would look like!) We took the senic roads, enjoyed the beautiful fall leaves, and laughed and talked the whole way there and back - I knew Lauren and Candace would forever be my friends after that trip! I've actually framed a placemap that I had kept from our travels. It is a simple "Maine Attractions" map, with a blueberry jelly stain, but I can't look at it without remembering the great times we had together and how important it is to create my own Mountain Day fun every once in a while!

Christa Sammons, '64
24 Sep 2008, 12:49

My freshman Mountain Day, in the fall of 1960, is an indelible memory for me because of an out-of-body experience. I had arrived at MHC with an advanced, though undiagnosed case of anorexia, which only grew worse during those first weeks of classes. Weak as I was, I was determined to participate in Mountain Day. I joined up for a bus trip to some mountain or other and made the climb. I remember a scene on the way down, with the late afternoon sunlight filtering diagonally through the trees. I think I almost fainted at that moment, at least I seemed to leave my body. Perhaps I was near death: medical records reveal that my situation was dire. It was beautiful but terrifying. I never participated in another Mountain Day, but I did eventually recover.

Amy B Gracey '07
24 Sep 2008, 13:05

Seeing the announcement of Mountain Day '08 brought back a flood of memories. I'll always treasure that first Mountain day. My initial struggles centered around believing I was really at MHC. Climbing the mountain made my disbelief face dirt and sun, a fanstatic view and ice-cream. I finally had a sense the reality of the FP MHC community. My senior year, I hiked again from the bottom of Skinner with a group of FPs, one wearing heels! (Never underestimate an FP) We laughed all the way up, had our full share of ice cream and took loads of pictures. This Mountain Day brings back fond memories. In honor of those memories, I will phone a friend, eat some ice cream, and take a hike on my lunch break!

Julia Ten Eyck '79
24 Sep 2008, 13:12

Thank you so much for the Mountain Day message and reminiscences! This brings back such lovely, fond Mountain Day memories for me, of crisp autumn days and long walks in the woods, taking in the beautiful New England fall colors. Something I very much miss here in California! Happy Mountain Day to all of my MHC sisters everywhere!

Ruth (Bondy) Lowy '45
24 Sep 2008, 13:36

Fall of 1941, just before Pearl Harbor, freshman classmates from Brigham Hall rented a bicycle built for five and biked to Northampton. Wish I could remember names of the other four.
What a glorious time we had. It was a unique, once in a lifetime experience.

Amy McCoy Aliberti
24 Sep 2008, 14:12

I remember one Mountain Day on which it rained! Must have been before the Weather Channel... We stayed in and played with a Ouija Board. I am sure we conjured the spirits of dear departed Mount Holyoke sisters and drier Mountain Days.
It is a beautiful day today and I wish I had heard the bells from here in Duanesburg, NY because I would have called in and celebrated the day. I am thinking fondly of Kersti Peterson, Jana Kirlin Brownell, Katie Kienholz Crockett, Gertie Allmaker Power, Melissa Rubinsky and all my other Mount Holyoke friends. Have a wonderful day!!

Cynthia Krohn '00
24 Sep 2008, 15:20

I always get so excited on Mountain Day. I end up telling my students all about it, what I did each and every one of my four at school: my first year I stayed in with a bunch of friends and watched movies with a fellow firstie who was sick with mono, my sophomore year I climbed the mountain with a group of dorm friends from Pearsons, my junior year I was abroad and missed it, and my senior year it rained -- but I was in Boston for the day with a class for an Emily Dickinson lecture. My students think it's amazing that I remember each of them, but they are probably some of the individual days that are etched most clearly into my MHC memories.

Julia Dutton Peterson '69
24 Sep 2008, 15:42

The best Mountain Day: senior year when a bunch of us from South Rocky drove to Quabbin Reservoir with a picnic and a bottle of wine. We just lay out on the warm rocks and appreciated the colors. Freshman year my roommate and I biked from South Hadley to Northhampton to Holyoke and then back to school, stopping for cookies, ice cream, cider, etc along the way. It was about 18 miles, and we were pretty sore by the time we got back. I think the other two years were devoted to sleeping or desperate studying.
In NJ, today is crystal clear and I have just finished mowing the lawn on our John Deere.

Patricia Leigh Disert
24 Sep 2008, 16:53

I was only at Mt. Holyoke for two years. My senior year, I went horseback riding (borrowed a horse) with some friends. We jumped a few stone fences (a first) and crossed a stream with very steep sides (also a first). It was such a beautiful day, such an incredible ride, and my crowning memory of Mt. Holyoke.

Since then, I have ridden (with my client the Forest Service) and at commercial establishments, but I have never lost the feelings and images of that day, and have ever since wished I had a horse of my own.
At 50, I decided not to wait another 10 years, and bought horses for my husband and myself. They live with us. Yes, we now spend more time picking up horse apples than actually riding, but I still see those stone walls jumped, that creek forged, that beautiful day, and feel that exhilaration again, in the "best" of all my memories.

mary jenness raine , class of '63
24 Sep 2008, 17:54

I remember Mountain Day at Mead Hall. One of the faculty members from the Spanish department lived in our dorm. She was a tiny, shy, self-contained woman, but as I was going up the stairs that morning, the bells rang - and, to my astonishment, as she passed the glass doors leading from the hallway to the stairs, she leaped up into the air!

It is a glorious day here in Westchester County, NY, where, as I often do, I count myself fortunate to have as my closest friends fabulous women from those college days. The Mead Group remains close, connected and loving, all these many years later. Happy Mountain Day to all of you!

Jillian Amaral '94
24 Sep 2008, 19:42

Wow - today was MHC Mountain Day, and without knowing this fact, I drove out to western Mass to visit Elizabeth Eyler-Pelletier and meet her beautiful twin daughters, born in July. What a bit of serendipity! When I arrived, Elizabeth greeted me with the Mt Day news. Today was a stunningly beautiful day with the first blush of fall color and a hint of autumn in the air. I can't think of a better way to spend any Mt. day, then with a good friend from MHC (and future MHC alums?). For me, my MHC Mt Days were all about spending time with my friends and enjoying each other�s company on a (mostly - we did have snow one year) gorgeous day, and I am glad I was able to carry on the tradition this year.

Melissa Vance 1984
24 Sep 2008, 20:27

Senior year, Margaret Anderson-Murphy, Ellen Foley, Beth Armstrong and I piled into my Chevrolet Chevette that I only had at school temporarily (and was sharing with my sister at Hampshire and was not supposed to drive outside the area) and we went to Vermont. We visited Santa's Workshop or some such tourist attraction devoted to Christmas. I have a photo of the four of us from that day, taken by a self timer, in a collage that hangs in my rec room.

molly de hetre meeker
24 Sep 2008, 20:41

1970 Our freshman year. The gang from Abbey hiked to Amherst over the Notch and took the 5 college bus back in the afternoon.
Peggy Fithian, Pam Theodoredis, Barbara Katchen, to name a few. Intrepid!

Barbara Downing Owen '66
25 Sep 2008, 12:21

I thought I was making an ndependent decision to enjoy this beautiful day by walking around Lake Waban (yes, on the campus of Wellesley College) this afternoon after school. I had no idea I was celebrating Mountain Day as well! Thank you for the reminder of the years we took off on our bicycles and then climbed to the top of Mt. Holyoke (the mountain)or set off on unknown roads to explore the beautiful countryside beyond the campus.
Barbara Downing Owen '66

Peggy Wharton Segalas
25 Sep 2008, 13:49

Mountain Day, October 1952!
Freshman year.
My roomate, Marianne Aebli Farmer, and I biked to Amherst. Found a few guys we knew , went to a class or two with them. Ate some lunch. Hung out. Then convinced one of them to drive us back to My Holyoke with our bikes jammed in the trunk of his car.

Mountain Day, October 1953
Took a bus to Holyoke, train to New Haven, visited future husband who drove me back to South Hadley in time to sign in just in time.

Mountain Day 2008!
Played golf with Herc (husband)and broke my all time best record 84...not bad for a 73 year old grandmother..

Kathy Hill Frelin '70
26 Sep 2008, 08:32

Mountain Day Memories...Kathy Hill Frelin, '70.
I remember Freshman year, '66, a group of us from North Rocky signed up for the 10 mile Mt. Holyoke hike, led off by Miss Elvedt in the Phys-Ed Department. Her energies and gruff' enthusiastic encouragement keeping our somewhat flagging energies going over the rough spots.
God Bless her! But it was a glorious experience!

In later years I didn't repeat "The Hike", but instead celebrated the gorgeous fall weather, walking around campus, picnicing around Upper and Lower Lake or hiking around the South Hadley with friends.

There are few thing to begin to equal the sheer beauty of a gorgeous New England fall day.
This fall, in the Philly burbs, has been a blessing after the July/August
90+ heat, 90+ humidity we'd been experiencing...September has seen
glorious sunny days in the 60's and 70's...reminiscent of New England.
I've reveled in it. I do a lot of walking. I have a PBGV pup who needs and loves the exercise, to the tune of 4-5 miles a day...rain or shine ! And so we both enjoy it.

Warmest regards,
Kathy (Hill) Frelin, '70

Gale A. Stone '78
26 Sep 2008, 08:42

And I wore a Mount Holyoke shirt to school today. How cosmic is that!

Gale A. Stone '78

Janet Daniels
29 Sep 2009, 09:38

As a first year I was pretty clueless and remember that a friend who was an exchange student and I went to Blanchard and asked an older group of students where we caught a bus to the mountain. They said "Oh here's the PVTA come with us," so we did. We got off the bus with them, hiked for a few hours, and when we reached the top the view was magnificent. We looked around and said, "Isn't there supposed to be ice cream?" Someone else said, "Yeah, but you have to walk seven miles along the mountain ridge." I looked at my friend and shrugged. We had climbed the wrong mountain. The next year, I got it right, ice cream and all.

Janet Daniels '05

Beth Grosvenor Boland '71
29 Sep 2009, 09:52

My most memorable Mountain Day was senior year. The previous three years, I had engaged in traditional Mountain Day activities with friends: climbing Mt. Holyoke, biking over the Notch (back when it WAS a notch), and apple-picking. Senior year, I was up for something different, so I convinced several friends to jump in the car and we headed east, ending up in Nahant, north of Boston. We spent a glorious day on the beach, and even spashing around (knee deep) in the cold water, before heading back to MHC.
My husband and I now have a sort of Mountain Weekend tradition. Almost every year since we met 26 years ago (we can't have missed more than 4 or 5 years) we've spent a weekend in October driving down portions of the Skyline Drive and/or Blue Ridge Parkway (the colors arrive later down here) and enjoying a variety of hikes and photo ops. Long live Mountain Day!

Nancy Richards '71
29 Sep 2009, 10:04

Spent Mountain Day doing various activities: shopping in Holyoke, climbing Mt. Holyoke, having a picnic by a local reservoir with friends. It was always fun trying to guess when it would happen- before hunting season? Was the kitchen making lunches, etc?

Abigail Keller Wasserman '96
29 Sep 2009, 10:16

My favorite Mountain Day came a few years back. My mother, Mollie Keller '70, and I decided to play hooky from work and drive up to campus to see the newly reopened Blanchard Center. The college seemed strangely deserted when we arrived, and we were delighted to learn it was Mountain Day! It was great fun to call my friends from Blanchard to wish them a Happy Mountain Day. Mom and I then drove up Skinner Mountain and enjoyed the views and ice cream. It was an absolutely delicious day.

Cat O'Brien '03
29 Sep 2009, 10:19

I remember the glee my roomie and I felt our first Mountain Day... when we learned we could sleep-in just a bit longer and enjoy the beautiful Massachuetts fall day. I took SO MANY photos that first year of the leaves. Thinking of Mountain Day brings back the best memories I had of MHC (Mountain-day related and not)... I'd love to venture back from Omaha, NE one of these days...

Susan (White) Schuur '65
29 Sep 2009, 10:24

"Vanloads" of students -- how soft we've become! A group of us biked to and up Mt. Holyoke on Freshman year Mountain Day. It was worth it for 1. the view, and 2. the exhilerating ride down. By Sophomore year, I was much too "sophisticated" (in the '60s sense of the word) to ever celebrate Mountain Day again -- one of my regrets! I became an enthusiastic hiker after graduation and also regret that I never participated in the Outing Club. I mean, they were the only ones that had a car!

Miriam D. Wagner '44
29 Sep 2009, 10:24

I've enjoyed reading all the reminiscences from alums of various years. I went looking for pictures of Mountain Day and found one that was taken on Mountain DaY in 1941. It took place in October, not September. I went mountain climbing with Alice Craemer, Elinor Jordan Reynolds, Mary Jane Thomson Ordway and Barbara Lichterman Shalen. I just attended my 65th Reunion and there were Allie and M.J. We've never lost touch over all these long years. Mount Holyoke friendships are forever!

Stephanie Luz Abrams '79
29 Sep 2009, 10:26

Such great times with friends during hikes from the dorm to Skinner Park; picnics along the Quabbin; juicy apples and warm cider at Atkins Farm; rolling down the hill behind the Mandelles; and viewing the fall splendor from Memorial Hill at Amherst! The fall colors on Paris in 1977 paled in comparison! Happy Mountain Day and thanks for the colorful memories!

Elizabeth Osder
29 Sep 2009, 13:28

Well, I loved Mountain Day, but i wasn't much of a mountaineer those days...we went to the market, got some grub and drove to the top to picnic...

I would hike now, I am thirty years older and seem to be in better shape.

It's a lovely memory, despite, my urbanista take on it at a young age.

Bitsy Osder '86

Kelsey Flower '75
29 Sep 2009, 13:32

One of my more memorable Mountain Days was the year I took a few friends with me to Deerfield, MA, my father's hometown. Boy were my friends surprised when I became a celebrity for the day, since I have my grandmother's name, and many of the residents remembered my father and his family.

Anne Ensworth Whitney '58
29 Sep 2009, 13:33

I remember my first Mountain Day which was my senior year in high school! My mother, class of 1929, had brought me to MHC for my interview. She hooked me up with Jane Canaday Hahn, '57, who was the daughter of one of her classmates. We had a wonderful bike ride to the OC cabin and a great day in the bright Fall sun. The other memorable MD was my senior year when the campus was hit by the Asian flu. (There is nothing new under the sun!) As the bells pealed, I was being transferred to the gym which has been set up as an infirmary. There were a lot of us groaning and moaning realizing our friends were out enjoying the day.

Judy Leon '72
29 Sep 2009, 17:16

I just read my classmate Joyce Trygstad's message, and it makes me want to go to Colorado immediately and hike with her.

For me, Mountain Day is one of the most brilliant ideas ever conceived. Although I am fortunate to spend a good part of every day outside on my farm in upstate New York (in all kinds of weather), I still miss Mountain Day. I want someone to ring the bells and suspend all normal activities, tell me I have to go outside and just enjoy myself and quit worrying about what I should be doing instead. Mountain Day is better than a vacation; because it is unplanned, it is a true gift of time.

Sally Fulton Burke '61
30 Sep 2009, 00:15

I think it was our freshman year, 1957, when my roommate (Amy Connard Laidlaw '61) and I rented a couple of horses on Mountain Day and rode across the Notch right down the main street in Amherst. The Amherst guys thought it was great and we could not sit or move for about 10 days after we returned to MHC (the same day, of course). We carried pillows to sit on for our classes for at least the next week.

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