Based on interviews with students and staff and several months of observing life and work in the school, this report examines Colorado's Mountain Open High School, where the program is based on the notion that secondary education should be the rite of passage from adolescence to mature adulthood. Chapter One introduces the people and facilities of Mountain Open High School, and the methods used to obtain information about them. Chapter Two outlines the program and resources, including personnel, facilities, and activities. Chapter Three portrays the critical routines of the school. Chapter Four gives student views of the challenges and demands of independence and responsibility. Chapter Five is devoted to student and staff accounts of interpersonal relationships and the troubles that occur in an experiential program. Chapter Six describes the essential elements of Walkabout, a trip, and two passages. The final chapters put Mountain Open High School into a broader educational framework and extract lessons the school has for experiential education in general. A glossary of terms concludes the account. (JHZ)