Photos show what 8 iconic ‘Yellowstone’ locations look like in real life, from the Dutton Ranch to the ‘train station’

• Although some “Yellowstone” scenes are shot in Texas, Oregon, and Utah, many areas actually are in Montana.

• As a local Montanan, I made a decision to go to a number of filming areas scattered throughout the state.

• From the Dutton Ranch to the notorious “practice station,” this is how actuality compares to the present.

As a local Montanan, I lately set off to see what “Yellowstone” areas appear like in actual life.

I had delay watching “Yellowstone” lengthy sufficient.

Having been born and raised in Montana, any point out I’ve manufactured from my house state for the previous 5 years has been met with questions alongside the strains of: “Is it like ‘Yellowstone?'”

Briefly, no. The fashionable-day western drama, with 5 seasons of blatant and unapologetic lawlessness, is a stark distinction to the sleepy state I grew up in. Centered on the Dutton household, led by patriarch John, “Yellowstone” boasts a forged that may do something for his or her dynasty: the biggest ranch in Montana. Suppose “Succession,” however with extra cowboy hats.

However with the present season airing whereas I used to be house for the vacations, I figured it was time to settle in and find out about my tradition. And inside a number of episodes, I spotted there truly are some things the TV present and the state have in widespread: settings.

Although some scenes are shot in Texas, Oregon, and Utah, lots of the present’s areas actually are scattered throughout Montana’s diversified countryside — together with the notorious Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. So I got down to see a number of the areas for myself.

In actual life, lots of the areas in “Yellowstone” are nowhere close to Yellowstone Nationwide Park — or one another.

Most scenes in “Yellowstone” are, ostensibly, inside a number of miles of one another. The Yellowstone Dutton Ranch — the household’s house, and the place a lot of the present’s motion takes place — is bordered by Yellowstone Nationwide Park, the fictional Damaged Rock Indian Reservation, and is close to Bozeman, Montana.

Actuality paints a special image.

The Dutton Ranch is nowhere close to Bozeman, or Yellowstone. To drive to Bozeman would take 3.5 hours, whereas the closest entrance to Yellowstone Nationwide Park is about 4.5 hours away — making it a bit trickier for characters to have fast journeys to “the park.”

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And if patriarch John Dutton needed to go to his son, Kayce, at his house on the Damaged Rock Indian Reservation — filmed on Montana’s Crow Reservation — it could take him about 6 hours and 43 minutes to drive there.

It took about ten hours from my house in Helena to go to every of the filming areas listed under.

The Governor’s Workplace, which is filmed within the state’s capitol constructing, is simply as opulent because it appears on TV.

One of many first scenes in season one, episode one, takes place within the governor’s workplace, a setting that I immediately acknowledged because the Montana State Capitol constructing.

On this scene, viewers are launched to Jamie Dutton, John Dutton’s adopted son, who works as an legal professional. All through the primary few seasons, members of the Dutton household are continuously seen in and in regards to the governor’s workplace.

Each inside and outside, I believed this location appears simply the identical in particular person because it did on TV.

The Yellowstone Dutton Ranch is an actual, working ranch situated in Darby, Montana.

The Yellowstone Dutton Ranch is an actual place — and cabins on the property may be rented out for between $1,200 and $1,500 per night time. The actual-life ranch is known as the Chief Joseph Ranch and is situated in Darby, a small city in western Montana.

Whereas renting a cabin was out of the price range this time, the Chief Joseph Ranch may be seen from the street, so I went to test it out.

Once I pulled off the freeway, I used to be upset by how little of the ranch might be seen. From behind a big gate, I may see an indication welcoming guests to the “Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.” Past that, although, little or no was in view, apart from the tops of some white barns, together with one bearing the Dutton model.

The Duttons clear up a number of of their issues on the “practice station,” the place they commit homicide and dump the our bodies of unruly foes.

All through the present, the Duttons and Rip, a cowboy on the ranch, dump our bodies on the “practice station,” an overlook that is mentioned to be a number of miles over the Wyoming border.

In actuality, based on Montana’s Glacier Nation weblog, the practice station is a freeway pullout close to Sula, a small city about quarter-hour from the Chief Joseph Ranch — which might make it extra time environment friendly for body-dumping, albeit much less discreet.

The setting is identical as any freeway turnout space, making it much more conspicuous than I had imagined. Just a few different automobiles have been parked there after I arrived, hammering house that this is able to not be an excellent place for the Duttons to commit homicide.

Nonetheless, with a river working under it and mountains on both aspect, the “practice station” made for a lovely view.

Within the fourth season, a gaggle of activists holds a rally exterior the Livestock Affiliation’s Livingston Area Workplace.

In actuality, the “discipline workplace” is definitely a constructing on the intersection of Woody Road and Railroad Road in Missoula, about 3.5 hours away from Livingston.

I observed that the real-life constructing was lacking an indication that was current within the present. Aside from that, the situation appears practically an identical to its portrayal within the sequence.

In season 4, a hold-up, adopted by a shootout, takes place at Ruby’s Cafe in Missoula.

Within the fourth season, John Dutton and cowboy Rip arrive at Ruby’s Cafe to seek out that robbers are holding the place up. A shootout follows after the 2 sneak within the again, leaving the robbers — and the sheriff — useless.

Once I stopped by the greasy spoon for bottomless espresso and a stack of buttermilk pancakes, I discovered a restaurant that appeared basically an identical to its fictional counterpart. The decor was the identical, right down to a whiteboard displaying the breakfast specials and dessert menu.

Ruby’s is the type of joint one involves count on from a hometown diner: cozy and intimate, and bustling even on a weekday morning. Actually, a waitress advised me they’ve seen a drastic distinction in patronage because the episode aired.

John Dutton buys Jamie’s paternal father a steak at Glen’s Cafe situated in Florence, Montana.

In season 4, John Dutton runs into Jamie’s organic father, Garrett, at Glen’s Cafe. Within the episode, John tells Garrett to get pleasure from “one of the best Salisbury state in Montana, since you by no means know which meal will probably be your final.”

 

I ended by Glen’s, situated in Florence, a small city about 20 miles west south of Missoula. And whereas I did not order a steak to substantiate its accolades, the cafe has began promoting T-shirts modeled after these worn within the present — so I picked one up for $30.

The cafe appears identical to it was portrayed within the sequence, with a number of diners nibbling at breakfast. On one wall, Glen’s even boasts a shelf of “Yellowstone” memorabilia: a framed picture of Kevin Costner sitting on the bar, and a framed Glen’s Cafe T-shirt.

John Dutton is sworn in as governor initially of the fifth season. However his inauguration would not happen on the Montana State Capitol constructing; it was truly filmed on the Missoula County Courthouse.

In season one, the governor’s workplace is shot inside Montana’s real-life capitol constructing. In season 5, nevertheless, “Yellowstone” filmed its gubernatorial scenes within the Missoula County Courthouse — which is just some blocks from the fictional Livestock Affiliation’s Livingston Area Workplace.

Within the first episode of the newest season, we watch John Dutton being sworn in in entrance of the “capitol.” The frames are tight, so non-Montana natives would not discover the discrepancy. However what you possibly can see — the entrance of the constructing — is correct to actual life.

The governor’s home in season 5 is shot on the Daly Mansion, exterior of Hamilton, Montana.

In the course of the midseason finale of season 5, we’re taken into the governor’s home, the place John Dutton is watching a information report about wolves killed on his land.

This scene is filmed on the Daly Mansion, a constructing exterior of Hamilton in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. Constructed within the 1800s, the mansion has 50 rooms unfold over 24,000 sq. toes, based on its web site.

The Daly Mansion now serves as a museum — and the Victorian-style house appears simply the identical in actual life because it does on the TV present.

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