Mountain Day

A Northwood School Tradition

Mountain Day 2021 marked the 45th consecutive year that we have taken to the hills to explore the Adirondacks in small groups of teachers and students. Forty-five plus years is a pretty impressive run. Count the miles: If each student hikes, say, eight miles, that means that our school collectively walks a distance equal to a trip from Lake Placid to Florida. Do this forty-two times, and we’ve walked the Earth’s Equator – almost 25,000 miles – twice! That’s a lot of steps, a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a lot of “How much farther?”. 

This year’s treks included a wide spectrum of challenges, from the state’s highest peak, Mount Marcy, to Mount Van Hoevenberg, smaller but still quite a hike and quite a view, especially during peak foliage. Then there was the carbon-free non-mototrized trek.  This group started right at the front door, walked to the school beach, and paddled to Whiteface Landing at the far end of Lake Placid before they began their summit push.

We didn’t invent Mountain Day. We rediscovered it. Decades prior to this forty-year run, Northwood students were taking a day out of class to seek a different kind of learning up in the high places. And learning it is. Attend any Alumni Reunion and you’ll hear references to this life-changing day. You might not hear as much about calculus or statistics, AP History or soccer practice, but you will get a lot of stories about the challenges of Mountain Day, how amazing the views were, and especially how hikers got to know and appreciate each other simply by getting out into a new environment and working toward a common goal.

Click HERE to view images from Mountain Day 2021