Garrett County

f you're looking forward to summer, but not the season's 90-degree muggy days, the mountains of Western Maryland are just a cool breeze away.A half-hour west of Cumberland on Interstate 68, as you crest Big Savage Mountain, the temperature usually drops 10 to 15 degrees, summer mugginess gives way to crisp, cool air, and stretching out before you are beautiful vistas of rolling hills and wide alpine valleys.Welcome to Garrett County, a vacation mecca for folks who hate heat and humidity and love mountain views and unspoiled forests.

McHENRY -- Snow blanketed Maryland's mountainous, westernmost county yesterday, leaving roads icy and hazardous and causing one fatal accident.Up to 8 inches of snow fell throughout the day in parts of Garrett County, and a heavy snow warning was in effect through this morning. The snow was expected to taper off into flurries by early today, weather forecasters said.Forecasters also were calling for scattered snow showers in Allegany County with up to an inch of snow and nighttime temperatures in the teens.

OAKLAND -- Amid a growing clamor of political and business support, a proposal to build a four-lane divided highway across Garrett County as part of a five-state, U.S. 219 "international trade corridor" has gotten its first vocal opposition.The road would not be built for years and no firm route has been established, but a preliminary estimate puts the cost at about $500 million. The project has also aroused fears of its impact on the mountainous county."We should not be duped by proponents of freeways and industry who have the most to gain from this insane 219 proposal," said Crede Calhoun, a Friendsville river rafter and photographer and one of about 20 people who last month formed the anti-highway Conservative Action for a Rural Environment (CARE)

Like many other Marylanders, Helmuth Heise learned to ski on the snow-covered slopes of Marsh Mountain, a 3,000-foot summit that rises from the shores of Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County.There's nothing particularly unusual about that accomplishment -- until one learns that Mr. Heise owns the 23 slopes and trails that traverse the eastern face of the mountain. This entrepreneur put on his first skis only after he began transforming a towering, treeless cow pasture into a makeshift slope some 40 years ago.These days, Mr. Heise, 67, seldom gets to ski his own trails.

The annual Maryland bear hunt ended Thursday night after a total of 65 bears were killed, the largest being a 372-pound male shot by a 12-year old boy. Colton Lucas of Kitzmiller in Garrett County brought down the biggest of the bears, which averaged 154 pounds, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Most of the bears — 59 of them — were killed in Garrett County. The other six were killed in Allegany County. Nearly 70 percent of the bears were killed on private property.

LAST WEEK'S agreement for the state to acquire a popular Western Maryland landmark, Deep Creek Lake, is indeed a "momentous first step" toward preserving a state treasure, as Gov. Parris N. Glendening put it.The fate of the 3,900-acre man-made lake and shoreline in Garrett County had been in doubt since owner GPU Inc. put the property and its hydroelectric dam up for sale in February as part of a plan to cut the company's power-generation facilities.The...

PUZZLEY RUN -- Deep in a state forest near this Garrett County stream, a fluorescent pink ribbon marks the spot where local officials hope to find the water to supply a growing community and spur economic development in one of the poorest regions of Maryland. But the ribbon is attached to a metal stake driven into the ground under a hemlock tree in a Sensitive Management Area in Savage River State Forest, where a state management plan prohibits "resource extraction." Changes in that plan require public comment, yet the state Department of Natural Resources has granted the nearby town of Grantsville permission to drill a test well on the site without asking for public opinion.

OAKLAND -- This winter, there's less snow on the hills and less ice fishing on Deep Creek Lake. Lately, there's also less certainty about the economic future of Garrett County, and residents cannot blame El Nino and milder weather.The news that a Pennsylvania utility will sell what is known here as The Lake, Garrett's major tourist attraction and money machine, has unsettled the state's westernmost county.The many questions about future ownership of the state's largest freshwater lake will not be resolved until Dec. 30, when GPU Inc. of Reading, Pa., picks the winning bidder.

Deep in Savage River State Forest - a long scramble and slither from the nearest road - stands a forest so old that its giants were already standing tall at the start of the Civil War. Here, on a steep slope overlooking the ravine cut by the Savage River, black bears' trails ramble between towering red oaks, white oaks, maple and beech that ecologists say are at least 200 years old. Velvety red fungi explode from the trunk of a long-dead fire cherry tree,...

Welcoming guests to a Baltimore hotel this holiday season will be a Sandy refugee - a tall, graceful Christmas tree that escaped the massive storm's high winds and unexpected snow. The 22-foot-high Douglas fir arrived at the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Hotel by the Inner Harbor, where several people spent hours decorating it on Friday. The tree escaped damage last month when the fierce storm ravaged a family tree farm in Garrett County. Thousands of other trees were lost there, according to the longtime owners.