Where My Life with the Walter Boys was filmed isn't Colorado — it isn't even the same country
Jackie Howard moves from Manhattan to a ranch outside Silver Falls, Colorado. The mountains behind the Walter house are real, the working ranch is real, and the high school is a real high school. The state, however, is not.
My Life with the Walter Boys is filmed in Alberta, Canada, with Calgary as the production base across all three seasons. Silver Falls is fictional, and the version you see on screen is stitched together from six different regions of Alberta — ranch land, small towns, heritage sites, and mountain country, all within a few hours of Calgary.
Where Silver Falls actually is
The show doesn't rely on one location. It assembles a town:
- CL Ranch / CL Western Town & Backlot, near Bragg Creek — the Walter family ranch. It's a working property, and the cast learned to ride there.
- Chestermere High School — doubles as Silver Falls High.
- Cochrane — Fence & Post and the Cochrane RancheHouse supply the main-street look.
- Kananaskis Country — mountain, river, and wilderness backdrops, including the Elbow River Launch in season 1.
- Calgary proper — Girletz Rodeo Ranch, Heritage Park Historical Village, the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Splitsville Glamorgan, the University of Calgary, and Foothills Athletic Park.
- High River — expanded use in season 3, which premiered on Netflix on August 6, 2026.
Why Alberta and not Colorado
Two reasons, in order of importance. Alberta is cheaper to shoot in, with Canadian production incentives and an established crew base — the same reason Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto absorb so much American television. And the geography cooperates: Calgary sits about three hours from the Montana border, with the Rockies, foothills, prairie, and badlands all reachable in a day. Colorado's look is available in Alberta at a discount.
When it was filmed
Season 1 shot from March to September 2022. Season 2 returned to the same base from July to November 2024, with expanded school and football sequences. Season 3 shifted more of its footprint south toward High River and the surrounding countryside.
Can you actually visit?
Most of it, yes. Bragg Creek, Cochrane, and Kananaskis Country are all open to the public and sit within an hour of Calgary. CL Ranch is a private working property and a functioning film backlot, so the ranch exterior isn't a walk-up attraction. Banff and Moraine Lake are close enough to fold into the same trip.
The books are set in Colorado too. Ali Novak's original novel started life on Wattpad, where it racked up tens of millions of reads before Netflix ever bought it — and before Alberta got the job of playing Colorado.