Two Girls Roving: Day 2 – Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site and Grand Coulee Dam

Two Girls Roving: The tale of a 16 day, 3522 mile road trip to the Pacific Northwest in celebration of my friend’s college graduation! Follow along for all the shenanigans through thousands of miles, eight National Park Service units, night after night of camping, and even some coastal backpacking!

August 24, 2024

Up before sunrise in Butte, we had our first hurdle of the trip… Janice’s car key (which is one of those fancy “smart keys” with no actual key) was dead… we couldn’t unlock the car (let alone start the car and drive). We also didn’t know how to take the key apart to find and change the battery. YouTube saved us and we figured out how to open up the key (and discovered the key that is suppose to be hidden inside it was missing), and Janice was able to warm up the battery enough to get the doors to unlock. Playing it safe, we added Walmart to the list of things to do before leaving Butte to pick up a pack of batteries. Thank goodness this happened to us at this point of the trip!

Crisis dealt with, we showered, packed up camp, headed to Walmart, and then swung by Starbucks for breakfast. Today would be another long day of driving to get to Washington to really get a start to this adventure. This day is one I had to make an alternative plan for as a wildfire on Easy Pass in Washington closed the highway off and on for a month, along with a mudslide that deposited seven tons of mud and debris onto WA State Route 20. I made an alternative camping reservation at Lake Roosevelt and planned a route that would take us south through Leavenworth if needed. Thanks to WSDOT’s hard work, the highway reopened just days before we departed and we would be able to head towards Winthrop as originally planned (though I did do a final highway closure check at Grand Coulee Dam, the decision point on route).

We were not in the car long before arriving at our first side quest of the day shortly after opening, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge, MT. I’ll admit I did not know much about this NPS unit, aside from the fact a fellow NPS nerd told me it has the hardest junior ranger book ever. Since it is right off I-90, let’s go see what it is all about!

Established in 1972, this national historic site commemorates the history and culture of Western U.S. cattle ranching, especially in the era of open range ranching (before the creation of barbed wire and smaller plots). The ranch itself was established in 1862 by a Canadian fur trader, Johnny Grant, at Cottonwood Creek, along the banks of the Clark Fork river. The ranch was later expanded by a cattle baron, Conrad Kohrs when Grant sold the ranch to him.  NPS runs it as a living history ranch, using draft horse teams to hay the land, and blacksmiths on site make horseshoes for the horses. You’ll also see cows grazing, chickens, and the cutest Park Ranger Kitty!

We arrived just at the 9am opening, and checked in with the ranger for a unigrid brochure and to give pets to Park Ranger Kitty, who was born on the ranch. Janice and I opted to skip the guided house tour, and instead self-guided ourselves around the ranch grounds.

Being born and raised in rural Wyoming, cattle ranching is not unfamiliar territory to me, with memories of attending branding parties as a child and my parents living on an active cattle ranch after I graduated college fresh in my brain. Therefore, I enjoyed wandering around Grant-Kohrs a lot because of this cultural familiarity. Not to mention it was a beautiful Montana morning!

We spent a little over an hour exploring the ranch buildings. Sadly we did not have time to wander on the handful of hiking trails, but I think overall we had a good visit. We stopped by to pet Park Ranger Kitty on the way out, and also loaded up on souvenirs.

Then we drove. And drove. And drove… until billboards for huckleberry milkshakes proved too much to resist. So we stopped off at the St. Regis Travel Center, which claims to be Montana’s largest gift shop. I still have regrets about passing over some cute dresses and overall pants I saw in the gift shop!

Idaho came and went fairly quickly since I-90 traverses the skinny panhandle and resulted with a gain of a hour on the clock thanks to crossing a time zone. We opted for one last gas stop since it was considerably cheaper in Idaho than Washington. And then, at around 1000 miles exactly, we had finally arrived in Washington!

So a shocking amount of people in my life think all of Washington is rainforest scenery, so I always get a good chuckle at eastern Washington with its rolling plains and lava fields. I took to photographing the fields as the rain started. A crazy storm system was sitting over our destination for the night, and we had our fingers crossed that it would move on. Some rainy and cloudy sections of the road were giving me hardcore Icelandic vibes!

Since it was on our route northwest, our final side quest for the day was stopping at the visitor center at Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River. Also by stopping in the area I would cross the borders of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, my 85th NPS unit! Grand Coulee Dam is the largest power station in the U.S. by nameplate capacity (yeah, I don’t understand what that is, either!), and was originally completed with two powerhouses in 1942. A third powerhouse was added in 1974. The reservoir formed by the dam is Lake Roosevelt.

The visitor at the dam has passport stamps for Lake Roosevelt NRA, restrooms, and an expressive exhibit area. It was nice to get out of the car and stretch our legs before the last push to the campsite.

Since our backup campsite was reserved in the area, I did one final check that SR 20 was still open before we turned and headed towards Winthrop. The fire-and-mudslide deities were smiling down upon us, and the highway had survived the recent rains of the day so we headed northwest. Our route would take us past Chief Joseph Dam on the Columbia River, and around Pateros Lake. This area is filled with cherry and apple orchards, which were exciting to see (hey, can’t grow this stuff in Wyoming!). This led to discussions about becoming an “apple baron” in retirement. Then we enjoyed a scenic and winding drive up Methow Valley, where we started a new hobby of yelling out every name seen on a political sign.

The little town of Winthrop looked adorable to explore, but the most we did was grab the cheapest gas in town in the very small downtown area (complete with very old fashioned gas pumps and strong opinions on infection control measures and microbiology). Our campsite was reserved at Pine Near RV Park. The host asked me if I was Heidi upon check in, and made sure we had a level campsite since we were tent camping. (Looking back, I kinda wish I had booked a night in one of the tipis because it looked fun!)

The next day would be a pre-sunset wake-up so we could get to exploring some amazing alpine scenery. Goodnight, day 2!

Travel states, facts, & things with no context from Janice and I:

• ~510 miles and 8.5 hours-ish
• 2 NPS units visited
  • Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site
    • Free
  • Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
    • Free
• Apple Barons
• Never travel without a Roadside Geology book

Accommodations for the night:

• Pine Near RV Park
  • Winthrop, WA
  • $30 (2024)
  • The good:
    • Pay showers
    • Spacious site
    • Friendly host
    • No traffic noise unlike the previous night
  • The bad:
    • Did not find anything during our all too brief of a stay