Lake Tahoe

When people think of Lake Tahoe, on the California-Nevada border, many think of three things: gambling, stage shows and downhill skiing, a mini-Las Vegas of bright lights and round-the-clock action in high-mountain setting.But there is another side to Lake Tahoe, just as wild as the gambling and the stage shows, but lesser known -- the "wild" of wilderness, wild that spells tranquillity rather than urban hustle, solitude and physical challenge rather than machine-generated excitement. It is this wildness that first drew tourists to the area many years ago, and for many, the dramatic mountain beauty remains the area's principal charm.

I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole Earth affords," Mark Twain wrote of Lake Tahoe in 1872. More than 136 years later, Twain's words still ring true, especially for skiers at the resorts that ring the lake like a crown. But gorgeous views of the lake, lots of snow and great vertical drops are the only things that the North Lake Tahoe and South Lake Tahoe resorts share, and no two resorts better epitomize the differences than Heavenly Resort in the south and Squaw Valley in the north.

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. -- After seeing the fragile treasures of Lake Tahoe up close, President Clinton pledged yesterday to more than double the federal financial commitment to improving the environment of the basin.Federal aid will grow by $26.6 million over two years, to a total of about $50 million, to boost local and state efforts to clear up the ever-murkier water of the lake, restore pine forests and make other improvements to protect an environment degraded by the tremendous popularity of the majestic area.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- No one could claim surprise last week when tall flames raged across more than 3,000 acres and consumed 254 homes. The ingredients for a devastating wildfire have long been in place in the Tahoe basin, where 32,000 houses are tucked into an overgrown forest of pine and fir. Three million visitors a year come to relax on the shores of one of the deepest and clearest lakes in the world. Investigators said the blaze was started by an illegal campfire. It was mostly contained, and some firefighters were beginning to withdraw, they said.

After 20 years of tough pick-and-shovel work, volunteers finally have completed a 150-mile path around Lake Tahoe high in the Sierra Nevada. The Tahoe Rim Trail, ranging from 6,300 feet to 10,300 feet above sea level, runs through every sort of Sierra landscape: broad expanses of bare granite, wildflower-filled meadows, dense woods and forest clearings carpeted with pine needles, aspen-lined creeks and alpine lakes. Standing on giant boulders along the way, hikers can gaze at towering mountain peaks, distant valleys in Nevada or California and the blue waters of Lake Tahoe, a jewel among the world's high-mountain lakes.

The deep blue of Lake Tahoe meets the thin air of the High Sierra at an altitude of about 5,000 feet, and the vistas are, as you might expect, striking. It is the kind of place where a person can contemplate the questions of the ages -- like whether to use a 3-wood or a 5-wood to cover the last 270 yards of this par-5. Up here, I really am Tiger Woods. In baseball, they call it the Coors Field effect. The atmospheric resistance to the flight of a projectile diminishes the higher you get above sea level, which explains why it's much easier to hit a home run in Denver than it is in Detroit.

The largest in-depth study of people with chronic fatigue syndrome has established that the great majority have brain damage and evidence of active infection by a common virus.The long-awaited report, to be published today, strongly supports the contention by some doctors and thousands of patients that the disorder often has physical causes rather than only psychological ones.The study focused on the original cluster of chronic fatigue patients in the Lake Tahoe region of Northern California and Nevada who first brought the disorder to public and scientific attention in 1985.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- No one could claim surprise last week when tall flames raged across more than 3,000 acres and consumed 254 homes. The ingredients for a devastating wildfire have long been in place in the Tahoe basin, where 32,000 houses are tucked into an overgrown forest of pine and fir. Three million visitors a year come to relax on the shores of one of the deepest and clearest lakes in the world. Investigators said the blaze was started by an illegal campfire. It was mostly contained, and some firefighters were beginning to withdraw, they said.

Werner Janssen, who was music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 1937 to 1939, died Wednesday at Stony Brook (N.Y.) University Hospital. He was 91.Mr. Janssen was the first American-born conductor to lead the New York Philharmonic and later an active film composer and champion of contemporary music on the West Coast.Mr. Janssen was born in New York and attended Dartmouth College and the New England Conservatory of Music. He studied conducting in Europe with Felix Weingartner and Hermann Scherchen and composition with Ottorino Respighi.

The world, on $12 a day; My favorite tripIn August 1987, my fiancee and I were at a point where we had enough money for a down payment on a house ... or an around-the-world journey.At age 26, we figured we could always restart a career, buy a house or start a family. But, it gets mighty difficult to drop those things later in life to hike the Himalayas, bask on the beaches of Bali or ride camels with nomads through the Egyptian desert. So we simplified our lives to fit inside two backpacks, bought one-way tickets to Hong Kong and bid family and friends farewell.

The squat pumped-up turtle straddles downtown's most prominent intersection with a brash sort of stance - as if he's the first. Alas, only the latest. Statues painted by local artists to raise money for good causes have become Baltimore fixtures - what with last summer's colorful crab invasion and artistic fish before that. University of Maryland terrapins, two of which made their debut yesterday at the Inner Harbor as part of the university's 150th anniversary celebration, continue what's become a seasonal rite in Baltimore and a cult fundraising favorite across the county.

It hadn't occurred to me to take sunscreen to Siberia. But as I lay baking in 85-degree sunlight, I realized that a tube of SPF 30 was as important here in the summer as a down jacket in winter. Siberia tends to conjure up images of an Arctic wasteland and unforgiving weather, a place of harsh exile for people who did not toe the Soviet line. And although there is some truth to that stereotype, Siberia is a different place in the summer, as I found out during a two-week visit last July.

You missed Salt Lake, and the weak dollar puts Turin, Italy, out of your price range next year. What's a Winter Olympics fan to do? Go to Lake Placid, N.Y., next month and relive the magic of 1980. The village of 2,600 tucked in the Adirondack Mountains is having a festival Feb. 12-27 to mark the silver anniversary of the 1980 Winter Games that includes activities at all of the original venues. Skate the outdoors rink where Eric Heiden won all five speed skating events. Cheer in the arena where a hockey "miracle" happened.

A Memorable Place Valencia celebrates with art and fire By Eduardo E. Chufan SPECIAL TO THE SUN During my Ph.D. studies in chemistry, I lived in Valencia, Spain, for six months. Valencia is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast. Fortunately, my trip coincided with the Fallas Valencianas, a popular festival that Valencia residents celebrate every year in March. The festival is really great -- it's lively and noisy, there is surprising artwork, and ev-eryone has a lot of fun. The event lasts for four intense days.

McHENRY -- Groundbreaking is set for this spring on a multimillion-dollar "adventure sports" complex that officials hope will make Garrett County a prized destination for kayakers, canoeists, mountain bikers, rock climbers and their fans. The public-private venture eventually is to include retail shops, restaurants and condominiums -- all in a "village" likened by its developers to one at the Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia. A nonprofit group created to build the center has secured the needed $9 million from federal, state and county governments for the first, yearlong phase: construction of a 1,000-foot-long whitewater course and 600-seat amphitheater.

Circling Lake Tahoe 165-mile trail wins national recognition Each year, the secretary of agriculture recognizes a few trails as National Recreation Trails. This year, one of the four to earn that distinction is the Tahoe Rim Trail, a scenic 165-mile hiking trail that loops around Lake Tahoe. (The three others are the Pioneer Trail in California, the Massanutten Trail in Virginia and the Maah Daah Hey Trail in North Dakota.) With elevations from 6,300 feet to 10,300 feet, the Tahoe trail hugs the Sierra Nevada high above the lake, providing extraordinary views.

Circling Lake Tahoe 165-mile trail wins national recognition Each year, the secretary of agriculture recognizes a few trails as National Recreation Trails. This year, one of the four to earn that distinction is the Tahoe Rim Trail, a scenic 165-mile hiking trail that loops around Lake Tahoe. (The three others are the Pioneer Trail in California, the Massanutten Trail in Virginia and the Maah Daah Hey Trail in North Dakota.) With elevations from 6,300 feet to 10,300 feet, the Tahoe trail hugs the Sierra Nevada high above the lake, providing extraordinary views.

A Memorable Place Valencia celebrates with art and fire By Eduardo E. Chufan SPECIAL TO THE SUN During my Ph.D. studies in chemistry, I lived in Valencia, Spain, for six months. Valencia is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast. Fortunately, my trip coincided with the Fallas Valencianas, a popular festival that Valencia residents celebrate every year in March. The festival is really great -- it's lively and noisy, there is surprising artwork, and ev-eryone has a lot of fun. The event lasts for four intense days.

McHENRY - For 14 summers, Sharon DeVore spent many a cherished morning sitting outside the family trailer with her tea, sleepily contemplating Deep Creek Lake stretched out in front of her. But this summer, DeVore's daily ritual has vanished like the dawn mist. The Frostburg nurse and her husband learned in January that Glen Acres mobile home park, their longtime summer base, was shutting down, leaving the couple without a place on the lake where they had watched their kids fish, frolic - and grow up. DeVore, 42, and her husband Roy, 48, a high school teacher, are among many families of modest means being squeezed off the waterfront in the remote Western Maryland resort that was once a retreat for Pittsburgh steelworkers' families.

The deep blue of Lake Tahoe meets the thin air of the High Sierra at an altitude of about 5,000 feet, and the vistas are, as you might expect, striking. It is the kind of place where a person can contemplate the questions of the ages -- like whether to use a 3-wood or a 5-wood to cover the last 270 yards of this par-5. Up here, I really am Tiger Woods. In baseball, they call it the Coors Field effect. The atmospheric resistance to the flight of a projectile diminishes the higher you get above sea level, which explains why it's much easier to hit a home run in Denver than it is in Detroit.