My favorite Mountain Day memory, among several, would be from my senior year when my friend Mahnoor and I got to ring the Wilson House bell, declaring the special day. When we were sophomores, two fellow Morrowite seniors were sneakily given this honor from our West Quad custodian. Knowing the story, I had contacted him weeks in advance to ensure the same privilege. Though Carol Christ called Mountain Day on a suprisingly glum Monday in 2007, it started, for Mahni and I, with an exciting phone call at 6:45 a.m. After pulling the huge rope in Wilson's foyer, we ran back into Morrow to personally wake our housemates and celebrate the day.

Hello Smithies! I am in Baghdad at the moment, about as far away as possible from Mountain Day, crisp autumn weather and colorful leaves. From where I'm sitting in the edit room, I can see one tree on the street - it has tiny green leaves and offers a bit of protection from the sun, but the sandstorms blast right past it and I'm surprised it is still standing. I don't remember actually doing any hiking on mountain day, but I do remember sleeping late and indulging in Sal's ridiculously yummy treats from the Talbot House kitchen.

Mountain Day was one of my favorite Smith traditions...I'd love to take a vacation day from work today to celebrate in spirit! Favorite memories include sleeping in an extra hour or two, taking a canoe out on Paradise, and the year that my best friend and I drove to the Westfarms mall in CT for a day of shopping and scenic driving!

I woke up this morning and told my son that today would be the perfect day for Mountain Day.

Unfortunately I have to work. But today is my 20th anniversary at work.

My favorite mountain day memories include driving through western mass. with friends to enjoy the scenery as well as spending the day walking through campus and reading a book without pressures of class. I miss the new england falls and those wonderful apples. As I sit in my office at a psychiatric hospital in Alabama, I look out at a small apple tree with miniature apples the size of marbles and think of fall.

Here in eastern Massachusetts, it's a lovely, crisp fall day, much like my first Mountain Day, when I was a Baldwin House freshman. Wanting to make it a real "mountain" day, a group of us climbed Mt. Monadnock. The view was spectacular and the day spent climbing outdoors was a great release from the intensity of those early days of college.

Best Mountain Day ever: all of Hopkins House loaded into cars and we headed to Shelburne Falls. Played in the river, watched glassblowers at work, and took cutesy photos on the Bridge of Flowers. Fie to those Smithies who use this day to catch up on homework-- get outside and make a memory!

My favorite mountain day was spent going to Mount Tom with friends and viewing the spectacular fall colors. Coincidentally, I am currently on a one-week much-needed vacation and today I am on Nantucket enjoying a beautiful, sunny day looking out at the azure waters of the ocean. So, while there is no mountain to climb, I am still enjoying a great New England fall day.

One of the Hopkinites had a grandmother nearby. Those with cars kindly offered to drive a bunch of us to that area. It was a beautiful day, I still remember the visit. Mountain Day is a wonderful tradition!

I remember walking our beautiful campus and going up Holyoke or Deerfield (he best view!)Mountain with friends and enjoying the beautiful scenery, then sauntering through Yankee Candle to prepare for the holiday season ahead. Fall in New England is my favorite time of year, and was my favorite season and semester at Smith. Arriving back on campus fresh and ready to go; so many wonderful activities to enjoy and new people to meet. Plus, the anticipation of Mountain Day and being set free to roam the hills. Glorious!

Ohhh - (long sigh) - Mountain Day! How lovely... I am in Denver, looking, as I write, at some rather large mountains. In my heart today, I will be with you in Northampton...how I would love to take a walk through the campus on a beautiful autumn day. Love to Smithies everywhere!

I remember a wonderful Mountain Day when a group of us from Chapin bicycled up Mount Tom with the fall leaves glowing like embers all around us and the sky too blue to believe. We stopped on the way back to buy apples and pumpkins from a neighborhood farm then pedaled back, determined to make cider, preferably with a punch, and possible make our pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns. Our cider resulted in vinegar and my pumpkin sat on my windowsill until it settled into a squashy lump, but nothing could subtract from the happiness of that delicious day.

Lovely warm weather in Athens, Greece today after gray and wet, yukky (for Greece) weather last week. Mountain Day! Do something special and fun ... what a wonderful tradition.

Amanda who posted at 8:06 - you are a PILL!!!! Weather or not - Mountain is a fabulous, gracious tradition - and I've decided to take a mountain day of my own! In a time of sinking economy and a country at war.....count your blessings that you have a day off from a FABULOUS college.....and cherish this time you have. HAPPY MOUNTAIN DAY ALL! I'm going in search of a pumpkin!

Happy Mountain Day to One and All from beautiful Flagstaff Arizona...hmm, maybe I should drive the dogs up to the meadow at the top of the mountain road this morning, to see if "our" aspens are turning?!

Cider and donuts at Atkins farms. Yes, that is what I remember about mountain day. Mist on the river as we walked across the little bridge oogling the dew besparkled spider webs. A magnificent women in the tenney kitchen cooking some delicious for breakfast!

Sitting here at my desk, pounding through data -- and dreaming of the freedom of early morning bells...

I was despairing that as a graduate student, Mountain Days were a thing of the past. Then last week, I had an expected class cancellation! Hurrah! I took the entire day off and treated myself in proper Smithie fashion.

Memories of rallying for Mountain Day outside of the President's house...good times!...***Sign*** back to work and paying bills...BTW...register to vote!

It's a beautiful, sunny, crisp day here on the mid-coast of Maine...a perfect Mountain Day. I smiled when I got the email announcement and announced to my colleagues "it's Mountain Day." I'll go for a walk around the hospital on my lunch hour to celebrate. Enjoy everyone!
Fondly,
Rev. Danielle Di Bona

Never actually made it to the mountain, but road trfipped to Boston, NYC and other exciting environs. I always thought of Mountain Day as the ultimate mental health day-and was always told that the prez never gives it on a Monday or a Friday but here's to a tradition I wish we observed in the work force!

Best mountain day memory: A bunch of us first years went hiking, got incredibly lost, called Wilson during the dinner hour to get one of the seniors with a car to pick us up. Fun times! Shout out to Beth, Whitney, Kim, Liz, and the rest of the gang that went hiking that day...now we're spread across the globe.

Mountain Day is a great tradition and I will be sure to do something today to take some time to reflect - probably with a walk in Central Park! Maybe the financial markets and presidential campaigns should get a Mountain Day too!!!!

Wow...I wish it were Mountain Day for me!! Although I never hiked a mountain or convened with nature away from campus, I always enjoyed taking my box lunch and hanging out at the boathouse on Paradise Pond!

It's a perfect fall day here in Boston! I wish I could hear bells at take the day off too! Such a great tradition.

Hi. I climbed my own "medical mountain" last night taking care of an 800 gram infant born with only half a heart, trying to keep him alive after performing an interventional procedure. But today it is bright and crisp outside. I shall go check out the pumpkins growing in my back yard, reflecting upon fond Smith memories, before I crash.... Amanda should chill out and recognize how incredibly lucky she is to be where she is.

Happy Mountain Day everyone!

It's a beautiful Mountain Day in Northern Virginia !

Happy Mountain Day! Although I live in Silver Spring, I am currently in CT recovering from knee surgery. It is an absolutely beautiful day! Though I am not physically able to do so right now, I remember long walks near the President's Mansion, breakfast on Bedford Terrace, later hanging out with my daughter and classmates carving pumpkins eating great snacks. Really Good Times.

Amanda, Mountain Day is what you make of it. It's a day off for students to as she wishes to do...

I have tried desperately to institute this tradition wherever I am working but sadly no luck. I agree it should never be on a Friday however the middle of the week was such an awesome treat and you should never wait this long all the papers that have been put off and tests not studied for GPAs might plummet!

Looking out my window in the DC area I can see the distant hills in West Virginia, recalling how much I enjoyed the view from Mt Tom on Mountain Day and how fortunate I was to have gone to Smith College.

Amanda, I suggest you read the blog entries as that may help you put life into perspective. Enjoy life because it can be lost in a moment's notice.

In my mind I see that Mountain-Day-evoking Holyoke Range all the time; ditto Paradise Pond, the red bridge by the playing fields, the sad dead girl trailing her fingers over by the plant house, the Tootsie Roll columns of Seelye.... ah!

Greetings from relatively mountain-less Minnesota. The weather here today is text-book Mountain day. Bright sun, alarmingly blue skies, a few early and eager leaves dropping at your feet.
Shhhh- don't tell our bosses- but my younger sister (class of 2000) and I are going to play hooky after lunch for our own self-declared Mountain day. Of course this being the land of the great midwestern prairies, we will have to hike up a big hill in lieu of proper mountains. Happy Big Hill Day!

It is a perfect fall day here in Corsicana, Texas. I have pleasant memories of Mountain Day in the early forties when we had an opportunity to leave campus and enjoy nature as we tried to put behind us for just one day news from the battlefronts in Europe and Africa.

Thank you, President Christ, for including Smith alumnae in the Mountain Day celebration. This e-mail is a great way to help us feel spiritually connnected to our days at Smith and to all of the natural beauty of the campus and its surrounding area. I recall studying in the library on Mountain Day in 1975. I wish now that I had spent that day enjoying the foliage with my friends. My advice to current Smithies is to live in the now and enjoy this special day to its fullest. Your studies can wait for a few hours! Have a beautiful Mountain Day!

I remember those beautiful blue skies and riding my bike to a local park with friends. It was such fun, a special surprise. I have fond memories. Today, especially the weather as I am currently in cold, rainy Copenhagen and would love some warm sunshine on my face. Enjoy this special day.

Rain, wind, chill and hail...not exactly mountain day here in the Netherlands, but the memories are nice to have, or better yet, be reminded of. No matter the weather here, that alone is nice to think about on this miserable day.

Mountain day is a great example of the unintentional things Smith imparts —that really, it’s OK to take care of yourself. That you can (within reason) cancel everything for a day and the world will not cave in on itself. You can and should take time to stop and appreciate what you have before you.

It’s really rewarding to look at what the day means to the alumnae and the college, even this far out. It's more than just fond memories and a connection to the college, for a lot of women, it has impacted their values and you all speak about it eloquently.

Mountain Day was so special in my memories of Smith. When I became an educator at The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr I talked so much about the "found time" and the beauty of a sunny colorful day in Northampton free from classes that the administration at Baldwin agreed that a Baldwin Mountain Day would be a great idea. We did not leave the school campus but picnicked, played tennis, read to the Lower School children and just sat in the sun on the beautiful porches that surround the Baldwin Residence. The upper school students and the faculty loved it, but I don't think it is still happening. Too much pressure on everyone these days. Bravo to Smith for keeping the tradition.
Everyone needs some time for doing nothing but what one might want to do.

It is a perfect mountain day - here in the concrete wilds of Washington, DC!! The skies are blue, clear and sunny! I am at Walter Reed and will see patients this afternoon - but can hear the bells in the quad and am hiking to Deerfield with you all in spirit!

I love getting these emails each fall! Mountain Day is one of my happiest memories from Smith, and it makes me smile every year to get this email and be immediately transported back to those mornings when I woke up the hear the bell ringing and looked outside to see a (usually) beautiful, crisp fall day to enjoy. I wish I had a bike and a mountain (and a day off) to enjoy it today!

Yay for Mountain Day. I got in touch with a few other Smithies who now live in Austin, TX and we met up for lunch on the University of Texas campus. It wasn't a climb up a mountain, but at least we got to eat lunch outside.

I thought Mountain Day is always on a monday! :)
Thanks for the email, this indeed brings back so many happy memories. Today in Seattle the sky is cloudy and gloomy, but my thoughts are going back to the New England foliage and the beautiful Smith campus. My first year Mountain Day helped me skip a bio exam (yeah!!!) but didn't get me out of an evening chem lab since classes resumed after 7pm. :)
Happy Mountain Day all Smithies!!!!!!

One very good reason to have Mountain Day on Friday: No one will be tempted to spend it catching up for a class the next day. As for the rain, Mountain Day is not tied to any specific activity. Spending it in pajamas, while drinking hot chocolate with friends works for me.

I miss those wonderful Mountain Days. I sure could use one today.

Ahhh...Mountain Day...my fave memory(ies) of Mountain Days of the mid '90s was hearing the bells ring...and heading straight back to sleep.
Would take my own little Mountain Day here in Texas (but darn, no 'sick' days left!)

One of my favorite parts of Mountain Day (and Smith in general) was the boxed lunches! It was so special to go to the dining room to pick up the packed goodies and head outside for the day...

rolling down hills like a six-year-old
jumping into heaps of leaves

Here I sit in my sweltering studio (not as hot as yesterday) in downtown LA. SWEATING!!! Nice to recall the brisk air and incipient winter.....

Thanks for the memories!

Memories of Mountain Day - swinging on the swings at Look Park with Morrow House friends...being carefree for a day. Thank you, President Christ, for reminding me of the joy of those times and the "forever" need to find carefree moments despite the demands around us.

Mountain Day! What stress free memories that brings back after a very long Friday in the classroom. Long walks, beautiful trees, the crisp fall air, bag lunches enjoyed outside... I hope you were able to enjoy a great day.

Mountain Day 1994 was the day Officer Bob showed up on our porch (Morris House), where we were gathering to make a trek to Shelburne Falls, to return our 'M' to us, which had been stolen by Wilder House.

I love Mountain Day. I have no idea what it is like in Northampton today, but here in Northern California we are about to get our first rainy weather of the fall, so Mountain Day is totally appropriate.

I remember deciding to visit a friend at Mt. Holyoke, so I biked over and back (no gears!!!!). I marvel that I was able to do it, and my bottom didn't hurt as they do on the newer bikes. I go on biking trips now, and still look back fondly on my daring venture.

Getting this email was such a wonderful surprise! I smiled immediately and thought about how much fun waiting for Mountain Day was . . . thanks for taking me back to Smith, if only briefly, in my mind.

It just happens that my co-workers and I brought our lunches today to enjoy a picnic lunch in the local park. I am in Los Angeles and get to enjoy 70 degree weather for a good portion of "winter", however I'm glad my lunch outside coincided with Mountain Day. Every Mountain Day was special, but I especially liked my first year when Tib, Em, Peterson and I got dressed up in party dresses and walked into town for dinner.

My favorite Mountain Day was the year several of us went to Robyn Barber's Vermont cabin. I still have black-and-white photos that Laurie Piacrd took and that we developed together of the woods -- and the discarded car door we found in the middle of nowhere.... All the other Mountain Days I remember were rainy and gray. This one was beautiful.

Today was a lovely day where I now live--just outside Boston--and all day I couldn't help but smile: it's MOUNTAIN Day!! I keep fond memories of waking to the bell, meeting at the Hopkin's breakfast tables, steaming cups of coffee held while grasping maps and all peering together at the possibilities for adventure; the excitement of the seniors deciding where we should go.
I remember our lovely trips to hiking and canoeing, eating crispy apples together. This morning when I received this lovely reminder, I had to share my glee and remind all my Smith friends how happy I am for those moments, today's mountain day, and the brightness they bring the world every day. Thank you for this day, and for reminding us what a powerful history we all share. These reminders always energize me to go out and do my best in that Smith way we all carry proudly with us. Enjoy the day!

I loved all of our Mountain Days, but especially the one my Freshman year. That was in 1938, not so long after the memorable hurricane. It was also on my birthday, October 10 - what a way to celebrate. We hired a hay wagon - can't remember where we went, but it was a great way to get better acquaited with the girls who remained my "best friends" for the rest of my life. We still keep in touch, and freuently refer to those "good old days". Glad I took lots of pictures, and also glad to get this e-mail!!!

That's why today was so special. My husband and I just returned from the Catskills on our 7th wedding anniversary trip to our farm here in Piedmont Virginia with memories of blazing falling leaves and leaden skies. The sunset over Winchester was glorious and now I know...but of course, wonderful Mountain Day was today at Smith. Enjoy every golden moment...

Mountain Day, what a great memory!! I'm currently living in Papua New Guinea where it is HOT and humid, but I was quickly transported back to a lovely autumn day my freshman year when my roommate and I went cycling past beautiful fields of orange pumpkins. Enjoy all!

After hearing my daughter bemoan missed opportunities for Mountain Day earlier in the week, I was glad that it was a surprise on a Friday. My first Mountain Day was spent climbing a mountain near Williamstown with Libby, Paula and Martha. No mountains on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but it's great to join in the spirit of the day.

I teach at another women's college now, and we celebrate an annual "Apple Day" on which students climb a mountain and pick apples for a local food bank in the morning, and hold a festival in the afternoon. Apple Day was this past Wednesday, and every year I share with my students my memories of our kindred Mountain Day at Smith. One critical difference: Apple Day is a pre-planned day, worked into the college calendar months in advance; the surprise of Mountain Day on a random, beautiful autumn day was (and is!) a big part of its appeal...

Knowing that each year in the Bay Area, I miss the East coast fall traditions-- this year I planned a camping/apple picking trip as my own version of Mountain Day!

I am an administrator at a large public university, where alerting everyone to an event like Mountain Day would be a logistics nightmare -- sure to annoy someone. I shared the tradition with my President as a "quintessential" Smith experience, and couldn't help gloating a bit.

My favorites? Hopkins House excursions apple picking followed by a bag lunch on the rocks at a random stream in the Berkshires. And the year the Hopkinites paid a visit to my roommate's grandfather's dairy farm.

Now that I work at a college without a Mountain Day tradition, I value the experience all the more.

thank you for the email! and yes, Mountain Day - I've adopted the concept for my family, sort of, at least for a moment of appreciation and maybe a little walk (even if just around the block, which, here in Ann Arbor, is very colorful in the fall). My favorite Mountain Day at Smith was a biking trip to the reservoir, with Noreen, Monica, Anne and Ann - hey Talboteers of '86, where are you all?
Best regards to my housemates and classmates!

Mountain day at Smith was the best! Except the one time that we had a game, field hockey, away. Too bad our opponent had no clue on what mountain Day was!!
It is fun to read everybody’s memory, and see some familiar names, it brings a smile on my face, a good Mountain Day achievement, I’d say!

I remember senior year best, when we rented a car and went driving up into VT along Route 5. It was a bit misty early on, but cleared up after mid-morning. We stopped to visit friends at Williams, and drove back across Route 2, enjoying the great colors of fall!

Hello Emerson House class of'84!
I remember fondly our treks up Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey New Hampshire on Mountain Day. I think we were some of the few Smithies who spent the day literally... in the mountains. I was always glad we did. It makes me laugh to think of Cynthia and Marguerite's nick name for the famed mountain...Happy Mountain Day to all you Smithie's!

I remember waking up to a beautiful day and wondering if today would be Mountain Day and then you hear the bells ring. It is such a nice treat for Smithies to enjoy the beautiful New England fall weather or catch up on sleep! But whatever you ended up doing, Mountain Day was definitely a fond memory for all Smithies.

I'm so glad the notice about Mountain Day was shared with Alumns. It brings back fond memories of my sophomore year when we drove out to the reservoir with our bag lunches. This is such a great Smith tradition and reminds me of one of the reasons that Smith remains special to me 'til this day. I hope the current students made some lifelong memories this Mountain Day

I remember climbing Mt. Tom with my buddies and enjoying the beautiful fall colors. This year when I heard it was Mt. Day I went out kayaking in Maine with good friends to enjoy the colors once again. We are never too old for Mt. Days!!!

On this Mountain Day, I took the train to Cambridge University to meet alum Jennifer Barnes, who is the new head of one of Cambridge's two women's colleges. Then back to London to join a group of alums attending a lecture at LSE by another alum, Catharine McKinnon, leading feminist law professor. All in all, it was a wonderful way to celebrate Mountain Day across the pond!