A Diamond in the Rough!
If you want to take your children or…read moregrandchildren to a "real" ranch, K-Diamond-K is the place to go ! The ranch was founded by hard-working Stephen & veterinarian June Konz in 1961. The present gorgeous large log cabin lodge and all its furniture was self-built by the Konz family between 2000-2008, and is now run by their eldest daughter Kathy (Konz) McKay, husband Brian McKay, and son Stephen McKay. This is the real deal when it comes to western ranches. They raise their own longhorn cattle. You couldn't ask for more !
My wife and I took two of our grandchildren to the ranch planning to spend three days from Thursday, July 31st 2025 to Sunday August 3rd 2025, and ended up extending our stay to August 4, 2025 because our grandchildren had so much fun.
What can kids do at K-Diamond-K ? Read the signs and look at the pictures included with this review. This is "real" ranch life with a host that is brimming with smiles and spirit.
Kids can rise at 7 am (Don't worry, your excited kids will be waking you up !) to feed the baby animals and gather some fresh eggs from the chicken coop. Then they can accompany owner, Kathy, on her ATV to the ranch's lower valley to milk Kathy's cow Rosebud. Rosebud delivers 3 gallons of milk every morning and every evening, and you will become an expert milker after a short time. Then around 7:30 am, the kids can accompany Kathy on her ATV to round up the ranch's ~50 horses that have been grazing in the lower valley overnight and herd them back to the corral by the lodge. Breakfast is served at 8 am. After breakfast, your kids can brush and love-on a horse and go for a horseback ride on the ranch's 1,600-acre property at 9:30 am or enjoy a completely different ranch activity. Lunch is served at 12:30 pm. Each day is spent doing "exactly what you want to do". The ranch has all the facilities and gear you need for any activity you desire (riding boots, hats, gloves, ropes for roping, biking, fishing, archery, a pickle ball court and a basketball hoop, or just plain relaxing on one of the ranch decks, or on the front lawn lounge chairs). You get three delicious meals a day and will never be hungry. Kathy, cook Chloe, and wranglers Madeleine and Evelyne truly worked as a team during our visit. By the way, the cream in your coffee and the ice cream dessert you enjoy at meal time all come from Rosebud ! So, if you haven't made ice cream before, you can see how its done !
Our grandchildren immediately loved feeding the miniature pigs, milking Rosebud twice a day (they had never milked a cow before), and accompanying Kathy on her daily ritual of herding the horses to the corral in the morning and back to the valley in the evening. They also very much enjoyed the large outdoor trampoline in front of the lodge. We went horseback riding, fishing at Swan Lake, visited the ranch's abandoned gold mine, panned for gold, spent time in the petting zoo, and enjoyed mountain biking. We also played many fun games in the lodge. The kids particularly liked scrabble and the foosball and air hockey tables in the basement. Every evening after dinner, the kids would go to the outdoor trampoline, play games, and sit around the large outdoor campfire to make smore and identify the planets and constellations with the help of our phone's "Skyview" app. Our grandchildren also made some new friends at the ranch and exchanged emails with them to hopefully see them again on a future visit !