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.

Eric joined his friends and school mates in attending a 4 hour class to become a U8 Official.   They are participating in an AYSO mentoring program and will begin officiating U8 games along with a partner and a certified adult.   The class alone was a great experience for both the kids and the instructor.  The instructor relayed that although we had forewarned him of young adults being in his class he still wasn’t prepared for the energy, enthusiasm (and attention span…).

We took Eric, Stone and Dakota to Gettysburg over the weekend.  We left about 1pm on Friday and encountered a lot of rain and heavy traffic delays around Harrisburg.  It took us 7 hours to cover what we thought would be a 5.5 hour drive.   Kathryn booked a hotel with a pool, so that was the 1st item on the list for the kids.

Saturday AM we went to the museum.  We have been to Gettysburg maybe 3 times prior; once on our own, once with Ed and Billie Jo and once taking mom & dad, but we haven’t been there since they re-did the museum.  It was nice.  There was a 20 minute movie, the cycle-o-ram, and the museum.  That took up our morning.  We ate Subway sandwiches on the battlefield and then watched a group of re-enactors load and fire their muskets.  We followed the re-enactors to their campsite where the kids could handle the muskets, gear and ask questions.  We climbed the observation tower, scrambled on the rocks of Devil’s Den and hiked to the top of Little Round Top.  The kids hit the pool for the evening.

Sunday we took a hike along Cemetery Ridge guided by a park ranger.  In the afternoon we played min-golf and then hit the pool.

Monday we stopped off at Cabelas on our way home.  We encountered no traffic or weather problems on our trip home.  We had a nice vacation.  The kids were good, considering how much history they had to listen to and how long they had to sit in the car.

I have been battling with Sciatica due to two herniated discs on top of a mending hamstring pull.  I started going to Physical Therapy with some positive results.  Kathryn had a brief scare with one eye, but it turned out to be a common “vitreous separation” (age-related).

Eric is well.  Basketball season has ended.  Between Eric playing on two teams and then watching SU games, We were feeling a bit saturated by it all.
Eric managed to get a lot of spring skiing in at Woods Valley.  Woods Valley ski resort is near perfect; it is close (10 minutes) and small (kids know the hills like the back of their hands) and intimate (there is always someone there you know).  The lodge is a great place for these adolescents to socialize.

HP had the “puberty / growing body” talk for the kids that I attended. There was a lot of talk about deodorant and I expressed concern to the principal afterwards as the teacher repeatedly answered kid’s questions about growing up (eg. Will I be bald?  Have hairy arms, etc.)  by saying “It’s genetic, just look at your dad.”  We are aware that we are not the only family in which the kid’s “dad” is not biologically related.

Kathryn squeezed out a few last skis around the Lollipop Loop.  She got quite a bit of skiing in this winter as it really hung on here, more so than “normal”.

We went through most of the 10 cords of firewood we had on store; we had hoped to extend use of our woodstove into May – but mid-April will be the limit unless we get out and start cutting firewood soon.

I started eggplant and tomato seeds for his garden.  I hoed 1/2 of the garden to mix up dirt into the 6 loads of leaf much that I buried last fall.

Kathryn has been called out at least once a month for Red Cross local disaster stuff – almost all house fires.  Usually in the poorer neighborhoods and multiple family dwellings.

Kathryn ran in the Daniel Barden Mud Run on Saturday in chilly weather.

She is doing another obstacle thing called the “Tough Turtle”  the day before Easter in Ithaca and will be joined by Billie Jo, Stone, Dakota, Eric and my friend Margaret and her son. In addition to the adult wave there is a “family run” we can all do together.  They are spending the night partying at a hotel with a pool so it will be a really fun weekend.

Kathryn played in the Remsen volleyball tournament on Sunday.  She is trying to put together a women’s team for the Empire State Senior Games in June but it is hard to find ‘senior’ women who still play volleyball.  I gave up on the “over 60” division and am now working on a team for the “over 50 division.”

We are taking Eric, Stone and Dakota to Gettysburg for a long weekend.  We love Gettysburg, for the history and the landscape (I think that part of Pennsylvania is the best kept secret in the country, and have even talked about it as a good place to retire Eric’s class is studying the civil war so he is kind of interested.  It will be Stone’s first time in a hotel and my first time traveling with three kids.

Previous years I have taped newspaper over Eric’s bedroom door as an April Fools Day Trick.   Last night I took one of our Corelle cereal bowls, filled it 2/3 with milk and put it in the freezer overnight to freeze.  This morning I separated the frozen, bowl shaped, milk cube, put it into a neutral temperature bowl, covered it with Frosted Flakes and a little milk and served it to Eric for breakfast.  He suspected nothing…. A couple of stabs with his spoon yielded a “SERIOUSLY, Dad?!?”.

Eric, Luke and Micheal played in a 3v3 Tournament at MVCC today. Games were 1st to 5 points or high score after 10 minutes.  They won the 1st game 5-1 with Eric making two jump shots.

The 2nd game they were trailing 3-1 and came back to tie at 4-4 and lost in a sudden death overtime.

The third game they lost 4-3 vs the Juggler’s team with a really tall post player.

CNY JBL travel league standings (we were 1st in our group (ACC conf) within the Boys A division!) and finished in 6th place in the 10 team league.  We played in a 6th grade division (B is the 5th grade div), most teams were purely 6th graders – so being as competitive as we were is pretty impressive.

Eric had his last travel team game last night vs VVS. All the older (6th grade) kids went to a middle school dance leaving their 6th ranked team depleted. Six 5th graders vs a very good VVS team that was way bigger. But they played well, losing 43-26. I was really proud of them. Eric had 6 points and played well. The boys improved as a team and as individual players.

Sat AM is Round 3 of the HP League playoffs vs Camden who dominated our 2nd string.  The boys went into the last quarter down by 21 points.  The boys mounted a tremendous rally- holding Camden to ZERO points and scoring 11 points off the press (only allowed the last two minutes of the game).  Everyone felt they had tried their hardest at the end.