Deep Creek Lake

Wayne Allen Dorman, a longtime letter carrier and outdoorsman, died Monday of renal failure at the Anneslie home of his sister-in-law. He was 56. Born and raised in Joppa, Mr. Dorman was a 1971 graduate of Edgewood High School. After serving in the Air Force, he went to work in 1979 for the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier. Mr. Dorman worked out of the Parkville post office and at the time of his death was assigned to Oak Crest Village retirement community on Walther Boulevard.

It is officially summer, and Marylanders not headed to the Eastern Shore or Deep Creek Lake have several swimming choices. One of the older but lesser-known options is Cascade Lake, a man-made, spring-fed, 6-acre lake off Snydersburg Road in Hampstead. The lake is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week. Its Web site is www.cascadelake.com.

Eugene "Gene" Raymond Lynch III, a member of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's Cabinet who orchestrated the preservation of Deep Creek Lake for future generations, died of metastatic bladder cancer Friday at Casey House, a Rockville hospice. He was 50. The former governor described his friend and colleague as a "renaissance man of public service," given Mr. Lynch's background as a civic activist, labor organizer and small-business owner. "Very few people brought that kind of diversity of background to his service," Mr. Glendening said.

Eight years ago next month, the state bought 600 acres surrounding Deep Creek Lake, Western Maryland's prime vacation spot, to keep it from looking like Coney Island. The lake was added to the state parks system while most of the surrounding land was put up for sale to adjacent property owners. But the so-called Buydown Program is coming to an end. "We're trying to get through to people who haven't participated," said David Humphrey, Department of General Services spokesman. "They have until the end of the year, but they have to start thinking about it and planning for it."

When Garrett County Chamber of Commerce President Charlie Ross sees the spike in sales taxes the county has sent to the state over the last five years, he does not see money going out of the county. He sees money coming in. "You're seeing the money [that] people from outside Garrett County spent here," Ross said. "By and large, the figures on tourism have grown generally between 5 and 10 percent every year for the last five years." Garrett County saw some of the highest growth in sales taxes per person between 2001 and 2006, while having some of the lowest population growth during the same period.

The Ben-Gay had barely dried from my first trip to Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County when some news reached me at The Sun that interested me more than it probably should have. My bosses needed someone to take a bit of their cash, hop in a car and drive off someplace (snow tires, please) for a weekend of skiing and other wintry entertainment. The only conditions: spend less than $500, take a few notes, and come back in something other than a body cast. I was just the man for the job. First of all, the budgeting challenge sounded fun. A quasi-beginner at the sport, I have to rent everything, and skis, boots and poles for a weekend aren't cheap.

McHenry Madalyn and Chuck Hoffeditz vividly remember the day they retired to Garrett County's Deep Creek Lake: July 1, 1999. "Chuck retired that day from the National Weather Service, and I also retired the same day from a private Episcopal school," said Madalyn, 61. "We moved up here that afternoon." Like many of the area's growing number of retirees, the Hoffeditzes were already familiar with the state's second-biggest county in size, an area known for its 3,900-acre lake, spectacular changes of season, year-round outdoor activities and small-town ambience.

This is for all the anglers who sigh at the end of a fishing trip and say, "I wish this day could last forever." It almost can. Fishing across Maryland from sunrise to sunrise wrings out every last bit of the experience, presenting a diverse sampler of the state's angling opportunities, from swift-moving freshwater rivers to the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay. A stunt? For sure. A challenge? Definitely. But we do it, as Everest climber George Mallory explained, "because it is there."

Everybody knows Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County is Maryland's premier lakefront location for fishing and water sports. With 3,900 acres of water and 65 miles of shoreline, the only larger place Marylanders go for water-related activities is downy ocean. There's fishing to be done and waterfalls to frolic in, but even if visitors get tired of being in the water, many of the Deep Creek area's activities can be reached by boat, as well. While it remains the area's tourism focus, there's much more to the Deep Creek area than the lake.

Like its film namesake, Casablanca, a Deep Creek Lake vacation home, has it all: exotic locale, adventures all around and an interior soon to include Rick's Cafe alongside a basement pool table. Homeowners Rick and Ann Schofield have decorated their lakefront chalet with framed posters and other memorabilia from the famous film. But they also plan to finish a walkout basement by adding two more bedrooms and baths and a whimsical version of the legendary bar. "Everyone comes to Rick's place," Ann Schofield says.