REPUBLIC, Ferry County, K Diamond K Guest Ranch — Friday, Sept. 30 — "So - if you live in Seattle - can you see the stars at night?"

That was the shy question from 18-year-old Cory Frazier, the wrangler who was leading me on a morning trail ride up into hills dotted with red sumac, white-barked aspens and just-turning-gold larch trees — though they call them tamaracks here.

She has spent most of her life around Stevens and Ferry counties, and has never been to Seattle. So she had to ask.

"Because that's one of my favorite things out here. The Big Dipper and the Milky Way and everything. Me and my little sister used to lay out on a sheet at night and just look at the stars, and I'd fall asleep, then she'd yell, 'There goes a shooting star.'

I knew what she was talking about. Last night when I stepped out to my car after the nightly bonfire had burnt out, looking up was like getting conked on the head with a frying pan. I saw more stars than I'd seen in years.

This morning, our two-hour ride took us across pastures and up a wooded hill to a viewpoint where a hawk circled lazily on the updrafts, it's cries of "skreee, skreee" piercing the morning stillness. Below us snaked the narrow Sanpoil River, little more than a wide stream, but a major tributary in this arid part of the state. We had forded it with our horses — Frazier on Patches, and I on Val, a strapping big cross between a quarter horse and a draft horse.

From the hill we looked across the valley to the new 14-room log lodge that the Konz family, operators of the guest ranch, is building with timber from their 1,600 acres. For now, they have four guest rooms in their home.

Steve Konz, 79, and his wife, June, 71, came to this little-populated part of Washington in 1961 to start the ranching life. He had been a teacher at Mount Si High School, and June was a veterinarian trained at Washington State University.

By hanging out her shingle as "Dr. June," she not only had an immediate income but a way for them to become part of Ferry County. She still operates a clinic at the ranch.

"If you come to a place and can contribute something to the community, you've got it made," Steve Konz told me, as he looked back on his life here.

This remains one of the most rural counties in the state, with only 3.3 people per square mile, according to the 2000 census. I awoke to a radio station that gave the ag report and told the menu for school lunches ("cheeseburger, ranch fries and a cookie" in Tonasket). Over a breakfast that included homemade sourdough biscuits, conversation topics ranged from how to get Softie, one of the ranch cats, out of a ponderosa pine that it climbed four days ago, to an upcoming Oktoberfest in the town park. "With a beer garden and everything," drawled a ranch hand called Tamarack, like the tree. "Sounds like a good time to me!"

The Konzes still raise cattle, but taking in guests has become key to keeping the ranch viable. They hope to open the new lodge, with stone fireplaces built by Steve, in 2007. The guest ranch must be succeeding, Steve Konz thinks. "When kids come here, kids of any age, some of them don't want to leave," he said, clenching fists in a victory gesture.

Right now, they're about to ring the gong for lunch - they have one of those triangles like Granny Clampett used. So if I can get my creaky, haven't-ridden-a-horse-in-years knees to function again, I'm going to go chow down.

This afternoon: fossil digging. Thanks to everybody for the tips on where to eat, I'm filing them away for the road. See you later.

Reader tips

You must stop in Cashmere...the Sure To Rise Bakery has the best donuts in the Wenatchee Valley...my personal favorite...the "Bowtie"...then give us a call and we"ll treat you to some good "ol fashioned" home cooking and fresh apple pie...
— Randy & Maria Johnston, East Wenatchee, Wash.

In Dayton, stay at the Weinhart Hotel and eat at the Patit Creek Restaurant.
— DLB, Tacoma, Wash.

When you pass through Spokane, try to swing by the local apple growing area called Greenbluff. It's a community of small, individually operated farms where you can pick up fresh apples, onions, carrots, squash, and potatoes, to name a few. And no trip back east would be complete without a romp through the corn maze at Siemer's Pick N Pack. Have fun!
— Stacey, Bonney Lake, Wash.

Make sure you have a "Go Cougs!" sticker while in Eastern Washington. Huskies are about as welcome as most liberal Democrats.
— Jay Medina, Wash.

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