Yellowstone National Park, home to the famous “Old Faithful” geyser, is largely in the Northwest corner of Wyoming. Granted, the nearest town is named West Yellowstone, Montana, but the town of Darby, Montana, where the show takes place, is 377 miles (over 600 kilometers) from the park.

Many of the buildings you see on screen, however, are as real as real can be. Part of the appeal of the show is the political drama, and there are several story threads that take place in or around the Montana Governor’s office. That building , which also serves as filming location for all the courtroom scenes that frequented season 4, is the Montana State Capitol building in Helena, Montana.

Youngest Dutton son, Kayce (Luke Grimes) can often be found in his Montana Livestock Association office. The exterior of that building was filmed in Hamilton, Montana, which pairs up with some of the other town shots in a different state to create the illusion of a complete small town in Montana.

An exciting chase sequence in the season four premiere spilled into the country roads of Missoula, Montana, and is quite accurate in terms of reflecting the fictional geography of the show. Kayce’s childhood home and downtown office are quite close, in both the show and reality , as all three locations; Darby, Hamilton, and Missoula are within an hour’s drive of one another.

Most of the breathtaking scenery featured in the series was filmed within the Bitterroot Valley around Darby, specifically a portion of the Rocky Mountains that run along the border between Montana and Idaho. The iconic Chief Joseph Ranch in Darby, Montana doubles as the fictional Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, and its scope and history reflects the fictional Dutton family legacy that creator Taylor Sheridan has built over the years as well.

Built between 1914 and 1917, this historic landmark is the quintessential backdrop for the series, and houses all the impressive stables, farm houses, and paddocks seen on the show. The Chief Joseph Ranch actually rents out some of the rooms during the off seasons when the show isn’t filming, but don’t expect the interiors to be a perfect match to the Dutton ranch. The interior shots of Yellowstone ranch for the first three seasons were all shot on a soundstage.