If you live and work in Happy Valley, you can gaze out upon Mount Nittany every day. Mount Nittany is our Plymouth Rock, our Old Faithful, our Gibraltar. The moment we see her, we know we are home.

Yet, Mount Nittany is more than an iconic geographic feature. It is also a place to hike and explore. In order to tell that story, the Mount Nittany Conservancy is reaching out to the community with a planned series of interpretive stations throughout the valley.

The “front yard” of the Mount Nittany Middle School received the first of these Viewing Stations this summer. The Stations are designed to be attractive, educational, and informational. Each Viewing Station will include:

• brief history of the Lion’s Paw Alumni Association (the group who first worked to protect the Mountain from lumbering and other development threats) and the formation of the Mount Nittany Conservancy
• how Mount Nittany is used for recreation purposes
• the etymology behind the word Nittany
• pictures and a trail map of Mount Nittany from the current location of the viewer

Images of the Mount Nittany Elementary School Viewing Station are below. We hope that everyone can take the time to visit the site and see the final product. Your support of the Mount Nittany Conservancy is what makes this new outreach effort possible. Thank you! And a special tip of the hat to Ameron Construction for installing the Mount Nittany Elementary School Viewing Station.