Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite RealtorSteelers/Ravens Rivalry Deep Creek LakeSteelers/Ravens Rivalry Deep Creek Lake
Steelers/Ravens Rivalry Deep Creek Lake
I moved to Deep Creek Lake 4+ years ago from the Outer Banks to supervise the construction of the new Lodestone Golf Club at Wisp Resort. My football roots hailed from the great state of Texas, Dallas to be more specific. I grew up a diehard Cowboy fan in Redskin country and never really felt moved by any other football rivalries. Living here in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland has changed all that for me, as it is truly a unique football fan situation here at the lake. Okay, here is why…. Fans here live in the great state of Maryland…You would think this would be a shoe-in to be a Baltimore Raven fan, right?? Not so much. Remember, we are 3 hours West of Baltimore but only 2 hours south of Pittsburgh. Our primary TV station here is Pittsburgh’s own WTAE-4 coming straight from downtown P-town. Every morning and evening we hear about Pittsburgh’s weather, news and sports; this is where you hear about the black and gold year round. Sure, you hear about the Penguins and occasionally the Pirates but make no mistake about it, Steeler Nation’s head quarters hails from this three river steel town. But just as Steeler fans bleed black and gold, DCL is split in half by Raven fans that have purple blood running through their veins. The Ravens fans here at the lake take as much love and pride into every game just as their rivals do. I think to say that each team respects each other is just downright false! These teams and their fans have no love for each other!! As we step out of our beds and plant our feet on the floor of Super Bowl Sunday (which is playing in Dallas in the Cowboy stadium, Ouch!), there are still Ravens fans that feel like they didn’t get a fair shake on the last Ravens Steelers Brawl. Just as some baseball fans feel that the Red Sox/Yankees playoff duels ARE the World Series, the same sentiment is felt here at Maryland’s favorite lake/ski town. Ravens fans/players feel like they were cheated out of a victory at this year’s Ravens/Steelers “Super Bowl” and they are angry and hungry for the re-match next year. Until then some friendships and business relationships may be strained until the tables are turned next football season.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite RealtorDeep Creek Lake Bear Safety Facts
Deep Creek Lake Bear Safety Facts
Although we are experiencing another wonderful snow-filled winter in Deep Creek Lake, it will not be long before spring is here and our friend the ‘Black Bear’ is coming out of hibernation! I thought it would be a good idea to talk about some bear safety and do’s and don’ts from what I have read, and from personal experience living here on Wisp Mountain.
Hiking or Camping: First of all, most attacks are mother bears defending their cubs. I know that baby bear cubs are very cute, but if you see a cub you need to distance yourself calmly and immediately because the mother cub is always close by. Mother bears are very defensive of their cubs so be respectful of their family; do not underestimate the mother’s fury. The old saying, “you attract what you fear”, comes to play when dealing with any wild animal. Remain calm! Slowly back away from a bear confrontation until the bear ignores you. At your campsite, bang pots and pans & yell and clap loudly to try to keep the bear moving away from you. Wave your hands as high as possible to appear larger. Never turn your back on a bear and never run. Running attracts any animal to pursue you. Always cook and store your food at least 100 feet from your camp. Store your food in Tupperware and keep it in a tree 30 feet off the ground and 15 feet from the tree trunk. Remember, bears are very agile tree climbers. My husband and I witnessed a mother and cub grazing through our front yard a few summers back and the playful cub climbed every other 60 foot tree in seconds. The mother occasionally will do the same. It’s hard to comprehend the lightning speed that the bears possess.
Vacationers at Deep Creek Lake- The Department of Natural Resources were called in to help us a few summers back to deal with a bear problem in our neighborhood. Reason being….food in trash cans. People have to understand the importance of keeping trash cans away in their garages or securing them tightly in outside containers. Bears can be huge scavengers if there is a steady food source. Too many mornings going to work or driving around the lake I see trash heaped up improperly outside and you can bet you will find trash littered from dozens of homes all the way up and down the roads of DCL when this happens. First of all, it becomes a huge littering problem for the lake but more importantly it could put your family and children in harms way. Also, some locals think it’s nice to set out food so they can witness the bears eating it. It’s never a good idea to feed the bears; they will become reliant on humans to supply their food source and it quickly becomes habit-forming, creating bear problems within our neighborhood. Lets all be respectful of the bear’s natural habitat and the safety of local and out-of-state residents. Deep Creek Lake is a very special place where we are lucky to interact with a massive amount of wildlife so let’s take a few precautions to respect and enjoy the bears presence in our lives.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realtor
Deep Creek Lake Moon-RiseWaning Gibbous
For the last couple of nights here at Deep Creek Lake there has been a tremendous glow from the moon over our waters that have led to some spectacular moments to be witnessed by those who are aware. There are a total of eight phases of the Moon and last night it was in the Waning Gibbous stage. In this phase, the Moon is less than fully illuminated, but more than half. Funny though, the intensity of the Moon’s glow reveled that of the Sun. I have been woke up the last two nights at 3 am as the Moon crept over the 219 bridge casting a laser beam of light across the water, and slowly rounded over the treetops directly into my window like a blinding lamplight. I may have been half asleep but I was not dreaming as the room was illuminated in some fluorescent bluish glow stick fog that was very surreal and pleasant.
Deep Creek Lake Moon-Rise Waning Gibbous
Deep Creek Lake Moon-Rise Waning Gibbous
This beautiful spectacle is rarely witnessed to this magnitude in areas that have the glow on the streetlights and buildings. Here in Deep Creek Lake, it almost transforms a simple Moon-rise into what West Coaster’s hail as there Northern Lights show. Maybe not as brilliant but we do have mystical warm late summer evenings that take us back in time of lying on your back and staring at the billions of stars that serve as the background to the masterpiece Moon.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite RealtorThe State of Deep Creek Lake
I just wanted to post this article that was written by long-time Deep Creek Lake resident Ed King in response to some negative press that has unjustly been bestowed on our healthy waters here in Garett County. Ed is one of the most loved and respected gentlemen here who has had a life long love & passion for the lake and has devoted large amounts of positive energy looking out for the health and welfare of the area. Ed speaks passionately against negative press that has been written and spoke by uninformed forces.
The State of
Deep Creek
Lake
Approximately fourteen short stories have been written by me and published in “The Republican” newspaper under the above-referenced header. Topics have included among others the Swan boat, early camps & cottages, children & pets, swimming, water skiing and even my parents’ feelings of pride when I bought my lake property “Dunwanderin” in 1965. Presently, I am about eighty percent along in authoring a book documenting some history about famous boats on Deep Creek Lake.
Deep Creek Lake is a place I truly love. Every morning is a joy to awake, look out across the water, and see the beautiful mature oaks and hemlocks that frame our view. I enjoy the four seasons. In fact, my wife, Jean, coined the phrase that’s incorporated in some of our sales media: “Deep Creek Lake … a place for every season of your life.”
That place for every season phrase has really been true to my experience from 1933 when my parents camped along Cherry Creek, when they brought me in a baby buggy, up to the present day being the autumn of my life. A typical summer season finds me bicycling or kayaking each morning followed by a swim. Yes, a swim in Deep Creek Lake. Often after a day of work I pour a glass of wine and relax by the water and may take another dip before dinner.
Each season brings with it a variety of aspects of Garrett County and Deep Creek to be enjoyed. For example, you’ll regularly find me still water skiing and snow skiing. Or on a winter evening I may be reading a book next to a crackling fire in the living room. Regardless of one’s age or the time of year, there is always something wonderful about being here.
Deep Creek has matured in the past decade and in positive ways for the most part. We now have first-run films in an 8-plex theater, several miniature golf courses, the annual arts season including performances by the Pittsburgh Symphony, four major golf courses, a county Visitor Center, the recirculating whitewater course (one of only two in the U.S.A.), and great food services. In recognition of improvements at Wisp resort, there now is better snowmaking capability, more lifts and slopes, the renovated Wisp Resort Hotel, the mountain coaster and, the newest attraction, the Flying Squirrel zip line. Deep Creek offers so much more than the beauty of the natural resource itself. There is a strong infrastructure that has grown up around it.
While I cannot claim having anything to do with the creation of this lake and it’s attractions that I love so much, I have devoted the past thirty years to personally participating in the protection of the natural resource and also in the planning of county and state regulations as they relate to the lake. I refrain from enumerating the various boards, committees, memberships and associations with which I am and have been involved. I prefer to keep a low profile and speak out only when I feel it is necessary and then only in a positive frame of reference.
An article in the August 6, 2010, “Baltimore Sun” by Timothy B. Wheeler about Deep Creek Lake is the impetus for my speaking out now. That article is full of “cry wolf” scare statements to which I feel compelled to set a few things straight. First, yes, there are concerns and issues that need to be monitored and recorded to insure the long-term health of this resource. However, to cry wolf when there is no need to do so is not the way to approach those concerns and issues. The Property Owners’ Association of Deep Creek Lake, Inc., the State of Maryland Department of Natural Resources Policy and Review Board, the Garrett County Board of Realtors, the Chamber of Commerce and other County and State agencies are very concerned about issues such as sewage spills, fish kills, low water levels, and vegetation growing in the lake.
All of the aforementioned associations, organizations, departments and offices are working to address the issues in a responsible and professional manner. Shame on you, “Baltimore Sun” and Mr. Wheeler, for writing such a one-sided, devastating, negative article that in fewer than two weeks has had a most detrimental impact on the Garrett County economy. In Mr. Wheeler’s article there is mention of a forum to be held the very next day, August 7, comprised of scientists and government officials, including Mr. John Wilson, Secretary of the D.N.R., to speak on the “State of the Lake.” To anyone’s knowledge, the “Sun” did not have a reporter attend that forum and write a follow-up article addressing all viewpoints on the issues. The “Sun” instead chose to publish its sensationalist, attention-grabbing article titled “Residents Concerned About Deep Creek Lake’s Future.”
We who live here are all concerned about the long-term health of Deep Creek Lake. Basically, however, the “Sun” article is one-sided, most of it negative, and representing only a few inquiries to consider opinions of others. There were several presentations at the August 7, 2010, Forum. No information by any presenter at that forum was indicative of an immediate problem or concern with a high level of e-coli or fishing or swimming in the lake. Secretary John Wilson answered the question “Is the lake healthy?” with a resounding ‘yes.’ He commented further that the DNR is keeping a watchful eye on several matters.
The “Sun” article mentioned canaries in the mine. The only gas in the mine at Deep Creek Lake is people breathing out unfounded, negative remarks. If the “Sun” quoted from the “Friends of Deep Creek Lake,” I challenge the statement that “only renters swim in the lake.” Not true. Do you wonder if those people are really friends of Deep Creek Lake? I personally swim once or twice a day and water ski every weekend in the southern lake coves along with numerous other residents.
There is no intention on my part to cover up or ignore any issues. I love this lake and will not tolerate negativity to drive a campaign to address the issues. In participation with responsible agencies, well-thought-out approaches are a far
better avenue to reach needed resolutions.
It was reported to me that on Sunday, August 8, a person in a canoe and thought to be Mrs. Beelar was advising renters on the shores of Hickory Ridge not to fish, eat the fish, or swim in the lake. That was the day after officials speaking at the Forum organized by “Friends of Deep Creek Lake” gave no indication of such alarming precautions. Are those people really friends of the lake? I cannot stand silently by while alarmists bad-mouth the lake.
Mrs. Beelar and “Friends of Deep Creek Lake” are all people who obviously care and have done good things for the lake. Their good deeds should not be negated by their cries-of-wolf tactics. Rather, we ask them to go forward and continue working on the issues in a positive manner. I, for one, shall always love Deep Creek Lake and wish for others to enjoy it as well for the long term.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realtor
Deep Creek Lake Late Summer
Mystical mornings and crystal clear afternoons have dominated the last couple of weeks here at Deep Creek Lake. Here we are in the middle of August, a month where time seems to slow down with some calculated understanding that slowing your mind down helps your senses focus on what a special time it is here on the lake. This morning the lake was blanketed in a cotton ball fog. From our deck you could see the sun beautifully dissolving the mist revealing another super day here in Garrett County.
Deep Creek Lake Late Summer
Lazy, late summers has a cult attraction for some visitors who understand that the traffic on the lake slowly starts to scatter after last week’s Garrett County Agricultural Fair. Humidity is always low in Garrett County, MD in the summers, but this time of year it seems that it is nonexistent. The clarity and depth of mountain and lake views reigns supreme during the last couple of months before what I hope to be an upcoming Indian summer. Note: Indian summer is an expression given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, typically in late October or early November, after the leaves have turned following an onset of frost but before the first snowfall. Source Wikipedia.
Deep Creek Lake Late Summer
I love the soothing lifestyle here on healthy Deep Creek Lake and intend on maximizing every minute away from work enjoying all that it has to offer here in late summer.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realtor
Traders Coffee House Deep Creek Lake
Traders Coffee House Deep Creek Lake
You want a perfectly scripted morning here in Deep Creek Lake? Do what most of the population doesn’t do. Get up early and watch a spectacular sunrise over the mountain or lake. To really enhance this experience, get on the boat while it’s still early dawn and maybe get in a round of wakeboarding, or fishing, or maybe just go for a mellow ride across the calm waters of Maryland’s favorite lake. Take a minute to exhale and leave your stress behind from your job or your life. This is what DCL is all about in the early morning. Now take a deep breath through your nose and smell the fresh mountain air, listen to the wildlife already in full swing waking up. Look around you and take notice of others like you sitting on a dock along the shoreline, or on another boat taking in this natural therapy. Save your appetite until about 9-10am when the activity on the lake starts to fill in a bit. You have just enjoyed 4 tranquil hours on virtually your own lake and now it’s time to fuel up with a delicious breakfast and an amazing cup of java.
Drive your boat down to about the middle of the lake and visit Trader’s Coffee House for a wonderful breakfast, and a relaxing atmosphere. Choose from a cappuccino, latte, tea, muffins, pastries, scones, waffles, croissants, and breakfast sandwiches. I suggest trying an ‘everything’ bagel with sausage and cheese with a large cappuccino, or maybe try their homemade waffles with whipped cream and strawberries on top. Bring your laptop if you have to catch up on emails. Key words “have to”! Trader’s will smooth out your attitude and put the real world temporarily into another distant, unfamiliar world. After your visit to Trader’s, it’s time to catch up with your crowd and indulge in your normal lake activities. Just be sure to put aside a few mornings each visit to Deep Creek Lake and enjoy my favorite time on this peaceful lake.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realtor
Deep Creek Lake’s Summer Weather
Growing up in the South around the beach I know all too well about the stifling, crippling heat that blankets the Mid-Atlantic during the HOT summer months. Consider this explanation/ definition relating to heat index. “Heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity in an attempt to determine the human-perceived equivalent temperature — how hot it feels, termed the felt air temperature. The human body normally cools itself by perspiration, or sweating, which evaporates and carries heat away from the body. However, when the relative humidity is high, the evaporation rate is reduced, so heat is removed from the body at a lower rate causing it to retain more heat than it would in dry air.” (Source: Wikipedia)
How does all this boring scientific gibberish about summertime heat index relate to Deep Creek Lake? Well…IT DOESN’T!!
Deep Creek Lake’s Summer Weather
Here at Deep Creek Lake we don’t live our summers inhaling oven-like temperatures when working in our yards or doing outdoor activities. Instead, we enjoy comfortable temperatures from May-September that run from the lower 70’s to the low 80’s with much lower humidity. Sure there will be a week or two where we get a spike in heat for a short period of time, but rest assured that it will be short lived. There is nothing more refreshing than it being 80 degrees outside (with low humidity of course) and jumping into a 75 degree lake. Rainfall during the summer roughly averages out to about 4” per month, just enough to keep the yards green and the flower’s flexing. I know and love a lot of great cities along the Mid-Atlantic that have wonderful architecture, culture, and people that I love to visit and explore throughout the year but I have a sacred place in my heart for refreshing Deep Creek Lake in the summertime.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realtor
The Honi Honi Bar Deep Creek Lake
Honi Honi
Fourth of July weekend is on the radar and I can already feel the buzz of Saturday afternoons at The Honi Honi Bar at Deep Creek Lake. For all of you who have not experienced The Honi on a Saturday, put your seatbelt on tightly and get ready to blast off with THE party at Deep Creek Lake. They have a huge dock to handle the large amounts of people that travel by boat and there is also plenty of parking if you decide to travel by car. The music will put you in a trance like the pied piper and seduce you into shaking your tail feathers on the dance floor with happy go lucky locals until your howling at the moon.
This is always a family/kid friendly party with a playground arms length from the music. Kick back and order some good food, have a cool drink, and watch the band and the little ones while tapping your toes to the beat of bliss. There is over 1 plus acres of grass for your kids to run around that gently slopes down to beautiful Deep Creek Lake. Nudge your way into some competitive corn hole games, or lay out a big blanket and soak up some rays. Whatever you do, do not miss the undisputed heavyweight championship party’s happening every Saturday of the summer here at Deep Creek Lake.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realtor
Deep Creeks Got Talent
Last year around this time I was breaking out my Taylor 810 guitar and rehearsing and little bluegrass jam that I have played through the years to get ready for my first stage appearance to support Deep Creeks Lakes one and only talent show. Lodestone Golf Club’s superintendent Scott McMillion, who is a master mandolin player, had the responsibility of painting over top of my simple bass run rhythms with some spontaneous brushstrokes of finger picking heaven
People showed up with acoustic and electric guitars, harmonicas, tap shoes, or just their best stage outfit and voice’s to impress the judges. At the end on the day it is all about raising money for the which ended with a total of $13,000. Not bad for a three hour event. This year they are also going to raise money for the Deep Creek Lake Volunteer Fire Department.
Come join us on Saturday June 19th from 6pm-9pm for a fun filled exciting event and wonderful cause.
Betsy Spiker Holcomb Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Realtor
Deep Creek Lakes Favorite Marina
The countdown starts today and we are a mere three weeks away from Memorial Day Weekend. Do yourself a favor and visit the areas favorite Marina, Deep Creek Marina. With the coming of spring comes the responsibility of preparing your boat for the water with basic spring maintenance. Let D.C.M. and there 5 star certified mechanics get your boat running smoothly and start your season with confidently and safely.
If you are in need of a boat, D.C.M. has a large assortment on both used and new boats. Choose from new boats like Chris Craft, Sea Ray, Bennington, and Malibu. They also carry slalom skis, wakeboards, wake surfers, paddleboards, tubes, and any other kind of accessory you may need. They also have a huge inventory of rental boats. Do yourself a favor and pay them a visit on you next trip to Deep Creek Lake.
