Ranching, Mining, and Rivers…the spirit of the West
August 6th
In Deer Lodge, we started by visiting the Grant-Kohrs Ranch, a national historic site, commemorating one of the biggest and most important ranches in the area. It was a really fun visit- it’s a working ranch maintained by the National Park Service with historical interpreters, so there were plenty of animals and activity to watch. We started the visit by visiting the family house which reflected both their wealth and the rustic style of the west. The blacksmith, a female park ranger who spoke French, showed us some blacksmithing techniques. She even restores old farm equipment using some of the old-fashioned techniques. We had some cowboy coffee at the chuckwagon and visited the barns.
From Deer Lodge, we drove to Butte, a copper mining town. We peered into the open pit mine from a viewing platform and learned about the toxic lake that it has created. We walked through the historical part of town- it was very quiet even for a Saturday afternoon as contrasted to our next stop in Bozeman, Montana. Bozeman is known as a hip, progressive town. We stretched our legs and took a walk along the main street where there were plenty of people out enjoying the coffee shops, bars and restaurants. We stopped about 20 miles before Gardiner (a gateway town to Yellowstone) and camped at a KOA. It stormed just as we were arriving, let up for a while so we could pitch the tent and eat dinner and then poured rain well into the night.
Posted from Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
Tags: BIG TRIP 2011, In English 2005-2006, Montana
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