Our U12B team (minus one player) went to the Frankfort Soccer Tournament hoping not to be two over-matched.  We won game one 4-2, tied game two 2-2 and played the best team in our bracket to a 0-0 tie.  There were 8 teams and our team finished 2nd in our bracket.  We played the number 2 team in the other bracket and after they scored two goals in the 1st 2 minutes the boys re-energized, scored a goal and prevented Mohawk from scoring again, but were unable to pull out a win and finished in fourth place.  Part of the fun of a tournament is the hanging out between games as shown below.

The boys show off their medals.

Kathryn competed in her 1st triathlon sponsored by the HP Swim team. Swimming at the HP pool, biking the short course and then a run.

Kathryn peddling the bike portion of her triathlon. (Vintage 1991 Volvo 240 sedan in background for scaling purposes….)

Kathryn has organized a women’s volleyball team to compete in the 50-55 age group at Empire State Games in Cortland.  This distributed team practiced three times.  Once in Poland HS, once out doors in the sand and once for two hours at Rome Family Y.

The HPE track meet was held under sunny skies.  Eric competed in the 200m run vs. his friends Trevor and Austin.

John, Trevor, Eric and Austin come into the stretch.

A near dead heat for 3rd, 4th and 5th place.

Henderson Lake it takes its name from David Henderson, one of the founders of the Adirondack Iron Works, all the way back in 1826. The Adirondack Iron Works mined iron ore just south of Henderson Lake from 1827-1857.  At the peak of its operations the company employed about 400 men who lived in the (now ghost town) of Adriondac.  A giant blast furnace still stands as the most durable of Adirondac’s remnants. After the Adirondack Iron Works company closed  the area was leased to the private Adirondack Club (then changed to the Tahawus Club) for their fishing and hunting use.  With the coming of World War II the need for titanium dioxide caused the federal government to reopen the mine.  A railroad was built into the area and National Lead Industries moved in creating the company town of Tahawus in the process.  National Lead ran the mine until 1989, when it again closed down..

From Newcomb head north towards the Upper Works trailhead at the end of County Route 25 . The road parallels the Hudson River as it passes the abandoned NL mine, an eighteenth-century blast furnace, and the ruins of Adirondac, once a bustling mining settlement.  The trailhead parking area is used by paddlers and hikers who access the trailheads to several peaks in that area.

It is a half-mile portage along the south flowing Hudson River into Henderson Lake on a gravel path that is suitable for large wheeled carts.  At the top of a small knoll you’ll come to the put-in on Henderson Lake.   It’s at the south end of a cove that leads out to the main portion of the lake.

The put-in is next to a large berm that impounds the lake. The concrete spillway marks where the Hudson begins its 306-mile journey to the Atlantic Ocean.

It was cloudy above the High Peaks but we were able to see a vista that includes MacNaughton Mountain, Wallface, Mount Marshall, Colden (4,714) , Mount Adams,  the North River Mountains and 4,607-foot summit of Santanoni Peak.

There were ice chunks along the cliff lined shores.

A small waterfall on the north end adjacent to the lean-to.

What is a SoccerFEST? In short, it’s a pick-up game for youth soccer players.  To celebrate AYSO’s 50th Anniversary, AYSO set a world record with the biggest pick-up game on earth!  More than 100 AYSO communities all across the country—from New York to Hawaii—hosted a local #SoccerFEST14 event on May 3, 2014.   The first world record for the Biggest Pick-Up Game on Earth was set as 14,628 soccer players in 136 communities across the U.S. joined together to celebrate AYSO’s landmark 50th Anniversary.

The weather was threatening and local turn out was much smaller than anticipated.  Eric was the only boy that participated in the local event.  He had fun playing soccer and eating the free food.