Gazing across Lake Tahoe at her father's side, her belly full of a recently consumed root beer float, a 7-year-old Karen Rogers envisioned herself one day swimming clear to the other side.

The youngster from the Bay Area had learned to swim at age 3, after all, and was swimming competitively by 4.

“After our root beer floats I told my dad, ‘Someday I'm going to swim across the lake,'” said Rogers, reflecting on the childhood vacation, and the ambitious promise she made from the shore of Camp Richardson.

Now a mother of two teenage boys and 20-year resident of Tahoe City (and Truckee), Rogers has committed to fulfilling that distant promise. She plans to swim the 22-mile length of Lake Tahoe on Aug. 5.

Her launch point: The same Camp Richardson shoreline on which the dream originated. Her finish line: The Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe in Incline Village. It's the longest route across the lake.

“I'm more excited than nervous at this point,” said Rogers, a member of the Truckee Tahoe Aquatic Masters. “It's been a lifelong dream of mine. It's been on my mind for a long, long time.”

While others have successfully swam the length of Tahoe in the past — approximately a dozen, according to published reports — Rogers said she will be the first local resident to attempt the feat.

“It's hard to believe. It's like living at the base of Mount Everist and nobody climbing it,” Rogers said. “It's probably because there's not a large open-water swimming contingent up here.”

Rogers said she will leave at 3 a.m. in hopes of avoiding strong afternoon winds.

Just a couple of weeks ago, on July 12, Tom Linthicum of Fair Play, Calif., was pulled from the water by his support crew after 7 1/2 miles due to incredibly windy conditions and possible thunderstorms. Rogers was part of the land-based support team for Linthicum, who successfully swam Tahoe's length in 2006.

It's those afternoon winds that concern Rogers most, although she said lightning is the only thing that will chase her from the water. That, and poor air quality if there were to be a wildfire in the area, she added.

“If (the wind) creates a strange chop, it could be hard to get in a rhythm,” Rogers said. “That's my concern. I have the nutrition and fitness down, so I've done all the training I can do at this point.”

She hopes to reach Incline Village in 12 to 14 hours. Linthicum finished in 16 hours, 30 minutes in 2006, while Ken Harmon of Danville, Calif., completed the 22.1 miles from Camp Richardson to Incline in 11 hours, 19 minutes in 2005.

Now in the tapering stage of her training, Rogers said her longest swim to date measured 23 miles, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the San Mateo Bridge in the San Francisco Bay this past May. She completed the swim just shy of 8 hours — a speedy time she contributes to the tide working in her favor. The salty Bay also provides more buoyancy than Tahoe's fresh water, she said.

Rogers also swam the 11-mile width of Tahoe last summer, and swam the length of Donner Lake four consecutive laps last month. Both swims lasted about 5 hours.

“I felt really strong,” she said of her Donner Lake training swim, which also measured about 11 miles in total. “I felt like I could absolutely keep going.”

Like any true open-water swimmer, Rogers does not wear a wetsuit. Cold water does not frighten her, as evidenced by a training swim in 49-degree water this past February in the Bay. Comparatively, Tahoe, at about 61 degrees on the surface, “is really nice,” she said.

Karen Rogers online To learn more about Karen Rogers and her upcoming Tahoe swim, visit www.karenmrogers.com. The website includes a Twitter link to follow her progress, as well as personal accounts of past open-water swims.