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Inside the real-life ranch where Yellowstone was filmed

Simon Calder’s Travel

Yellowstone arrived on our screens almost seven years ago, but this November the conclusion of the Duttons’ whirlwind story is nigh, with the second half of the fifth and final season finally being released.

The first half of the fifth season aired in November 2022, tormenting Yellowstone fans with a tantalizing two-year wait before the final part of the story would run.

While Yellowstone star Kevin Costner, who played ranch owner John Dutton, announced earlier this year that he had decided to leave the show, the final part promises to continue the story of the Dutton family.

The show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan, has led and developed the characters through everything from hair-raising moments to deeply heartbreaking events, yet one element that has remained steady among the show’s chaos and drama is Dutton Ranch itself.

In the show, the events playing out on Dutton Ranch are set in the modern day – with some throwbacks to the late 19th and early 20th century in spinoffs – in Montana.

The ranch in the series is emblazoned with a large ‘Y’ on the front of one of the barns

The ranch in the series is emblazoned with a large ‘Y’ on the front of one of the barns (Yellowstone/Paramount)

Viewers will identify the property as Dutton Ranch, easily recognized by the giant ‘Y’ plastered on the front of one of the barns – that stays up all year round even when the film crew isn’t there – yet to locals, it is known under a different name: Chief Joseph Ranch.

When it is not being used as the setting for Paramount’s Yellowstone television series, the property is a working, family-owned cattle ranch, nestled between the striking Trapper Peak mountain summit and the Bitterroot River valley. The ranch also has guest cabins, but it is not currently taking any reservations for the rest of 2024 and 2025.

Shane Libel and his family have owned and operated the ranch since 2012, but while Libel says the show creates a fairly accurate picture of today’s American Western lifestyle, their everyday lives are a far cry from the melodramatic events that haunt the Duttons.

The exterior of the stone lodge

The exterior of the stone lodge (Yellowstone/Paramount)

“We don’t brand anybody who works for us,” Libel told TV Insider in 2022, referencing John Dutton’s choice to brand his employees with a ‘Y’ (and occasionally using it as punishment). “Although I had a young man working…

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