Heat, Timing Making Sierra Lake a Popular Destination

Tuesday, July 2, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

"Actually, we're getting busy already," Jennifer Merchant of the Tahoe North Visitors & Convention Bureau said on Tuesday.

"Campgrounds are all full. I wouldn't recommend trying to get a campground," she said from Tahoe City, Calif.

Most hotel rooms on the California and Nevada sides of the north shore also are spoken for, although Merchant said a lucky caller might find a cancellation.

"The best advice is to call in advance because we don't want people to be disappointed," she said. "People may end up spending more money than they want to or getting less amenities."

At the lake's south shore, Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority spokesman Phil Weidinger said most of the major hotel-casinos were full.

"It should be a big, big Fourth of July for Tahoe," he said.

Merchant said many visitors were stretching the Thursday holiday into a four-day weekend, which might benefit procrastinators if places offering four-day packages are willing to cut the length of stays to three days or less to fill their rooms.

But folks who are fleeing this week's summer sizzle in California and Nevada won't find much relief in the Sierra. Temperatures in the low 80s are forecast at the lake level, although readings dip into the 40s and low 50s at night.

Those committed to escaping the heat will have to head south to Mammoth Mountain, which still has runs open for diehard skiers. Communications Manager Wendy Kelley offers just one caution. People headed for the slopes may have to share a lift with mountain bikers who are planning more summerlike recreation.

Visitors who have a place to stay at Tahoe won't find any shortage of the traditional fireworks at both ends of the 22-mile-long lake.

"I've been here 16 years and it's second behind New Year's Eve. It is a popular show," Weidinger said.

A half-hour display that's being billed as the largest west of the Mississippi will light up the lake at the casino strip on the Fourth. The north shore will have Independence Day fireworks at Tahoe City and another display on Friday at Kings Beach, Calif., Merchant said.