Live Out The Ultimate Western Lifestyle Of Your Dreams At Montana's 5 Best Dude Ranches

Whether you've been inspired by the popular TV show "Yellowstone" or you've always wanted to experience a taste of cowboy life, you should consider a visit to a Montana dude ranch for your next vacation. Montana is called Big Sky Country thanks to its abundance of wide open spaces, majestic mountains, and incredible natural beauty — Montana's even got a beautiful lake that rivals the Caribbean in its blue color. The state is also known as "Cattle Country," but not everyone can be an actual cowboy or cowgirl year-round. That's why dude ranches were made — for those people who want a Western-themed getaway from everyday life.

The first dude ranch in the U.S. was in North Dakota. In the 1880s, the Eaton brothers established a ranch that their friends from big cities liked to visit to sample a bit of cowboy life. By the 1920s, other ranchers across the west, including those in Montana, realized the benefits of being able to host paying guests on their properties, and the tradition continued. While some people like to spend their vacation doing nothing but relaxing by a luxurious hotel pool, others want a little more activity. And you definitely get that with a dude ranch. From the rustic to the refined, these five Montana ranches let you experience life out on the range.

You'll definitely feel like you're worlds away from everyday life at Sweet Grass Ranch at the base of the Crazy Mountains in south central Montana. The closest town is Big Timber, which is about an hour away and has fewer than 2,000 residents. The working cattle ranch has been in the same family for six generations, and when you stay here, you'll get a chance to ride horses every day, nearly all day if you'd like. From helping to move cattle to riding horses through creeks to longer overnight pack rides, it's a veritable choose-your-own adventure based on your equestrian skills. The ranch also has some fantastic trout fishing spots and an evening campfire ritual.

As for where you'll stay at Sweet Grass Ranch, it has log cabins next to the creek, complete with wood stoves. It also has rooms in the main lodge (FYI, there's a shared bathroom for the lodge rooms). You'll find a lot of stunning mountain vistas here but no TVs or cell service; it's perfect for escaping life's hustle and bustle.

Sweet Grass Ranch is open for reservations from June through the middle of September. If you want the opportunity to work cattle, your best bet is in July, but you should make sure to call ahead to see what the plans are for the season.

A 35-minute drive east from the college town of Missoula, you'll find yourself at The Resort at Paws Up just outside of the small town of Greenough. That makes it a perfect stop on a Big Sky Country road trip. The 37,000 acre property is on the luxurious side. It comes complete with high-end dining options and a spa with a unique Montana ranch twist: the treatment rooms are all tents. As for accommodations, it has a mix of high-end cabins (open year-round) and glamping tents (open from mid-May to mid-October), so after a long day of exploring the outdoors, you'll be able to sleep in style. It also has an adults-only section to the resort, so you can easily take your honeymoon a luxe Western style getaway.

As for its dude ranch activities, it is a part of a working cattle ranch, and you can go on a cattle drive with ranch wranglers. You can also round up the horses first thing in the morning, or try your hand at cow croquet, where you test your horse-handling skills in the indoor arena by herding cattle through a specific gate as fast as you can. It offers equestrian classes for all levels, and for younger guests there are pony rides.

And what's a dude ranch without a chuckwagon dinner? From May to September, you can dine outside next to the Blackfoot River on dishes cooked over a campfire like Tomahawk steak, baked beans, and s'mores.

The Bar W Guest Ranch is just outside of Whitefish in the northwest corner of the state, less than an hour from Glacier National Park — known as the Crown of the Continent. The ranch is open year-round, and stays are booked in packages for six nights at a time. As such, you'll be spending time with other guests, so the ranch has included package options for both adults only weeks as well as family weeks.

It's an all-inclusive stay, which includes three buffet-style meals a day, and you can choose from a variety of packages (and price points) that vary based on how much riding you want to do, and how good you are on a horse.  It has a couple of specific cattle drive weeks during the year, which are for strong riders only. They'll pick you up at the airport and you spend a week helping with things like branding and vaccinating calves and moving cattle, while at night, you'll be sleeping on a cot in a tent. This is in a separate site from their Whitefish location.

Beyond riding horses, the daytime activities include archery, fishing, hiking, and wagon rides. In the evenings, you can expect things like campfire singing, line dancing, and whiskey tasting, and you can relax in the hot tub near the lodge. As for where you'll sleep, the lodge has six private bedrooms for guests (all with their own bathroom) and a communal kitchen, game room, and laundry. There are larger log cabins available plus some spacious glamping tents. You can even stay in a covered wagon, which comes with a full bedroom and bathroom.

Elkhorn Ranch is a 40-minute drive from the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park, and while some ranches were born out of necessity when ranchers needed to make money and started taking in guests to do it, Elkhorn Ranch opened specifically as a dude ranch in 1922. It's now on the National Register of Historic Places, and guests here stay in log cabins that date back to the 1930s. Even though the historic cabins still have some of the original wooden furnishings, they have been updated with bathrooms and running water and they come with daily turndown service. Typically guests stay for a full week (or more), and prices include homemade meals three times a day.

Elkhorn has a herd of 100 horses, including select ones for beginner riders. For anyone who hasn't yet committed to buying their own cowboy boots and hat, they have those available to use while you're there. You'll get a chance to bond with your chosen horse as you ride through the countryside with your wrangler guide. When you're out of the saddle, you can go on a guided hike, a fishing expedition, or an auto tour of Yellowstone National Park. It has programming specifically for kids where they'll get to spend much of their day learning and exploring with their peers, and it also has a few adults only weeks.

It's open from June through September. June gives you a great chance to see wildflowers, while later in the season means better fishing. By September, the leaves will be starting to turn, and you might even get to hear the bugling of elks.

The Deep Canyon Guest Ranch is tucked into the Rocky Mountain Front along the Teton River about 25 miles away from the small town of Choteau. The family-run ranch was first built in the late 1920s to help give people a chance to experience life out in the West. It runs six-day all-inclusive package visits, and there's a maximum of 12 guests, so you get plenty of personal attention and a chance to bond with your fellow guests on rides and during shared meals.

You can ride a horse basically as much as you'd like when you're here, and with the wealth of natural beauty surrounding you, you'll never get bored. During your stay, you'll get a chance to go on a wildlife tour where you could see bison, moose, deer, and even bears. You can also try your hand at catching cutthroat trout in the river, and at the end of the day, you can unwind with a game of horseshoes or just relax by the campfire.

It has three duplex cabins with space for three guests each. A larger cabin has a kitchen and living space, a loft with two twin beds, and a primary bedroom with a queen bed, which is ideal for families. If you've got a larger group, up to eight people, the Joe White House has three bedrooms plus with views out over the Teton River Valley.

All five of these dude ranch destinations were well reviewed online, and they all offer specialized, immersive Western experiences, primarily on horseback. They were also chosen based on the fact that they have options for equestrians of all levels and basically all ages. Pack your cowboy boots and your hat; you're in for the vacation of a lifetime.