Steve McQueen didn't live too long in this 15-acre ranch in Santa Paula, California but it does reflect a bit of the spirit of the King of Cool. McQueen and his third wife, Barbara Minty moved to the ranch in 1979 and were married in the home's living room in January 1980, sadly, McQueen died later that year. This ranch includes an 1892 house with unique details like stained glass windows and vintage fireplaces. The home has been updated since McQueen's time at the ranch and has a new kitchen and wine room. Some rooms, however, still look in need of a bit of a refresher.

The ranch's property includes three acres of Syrah vineyards, fruit trees, an equestrian facility and an airplane hanger where McQueen once kept his extensive car and motorcycle collection and his biplane. This property is listed at $1.95 million.

[via the LA Times Hot Property]

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the world's richest man, has reportedly purchased Irma Lake Lodge in Wyoming, a 492-acre ranch that once belonged to Western legend "Buffalo Bill" Cody, for $8.9 million. The deal was done via Gates' investment manager, the Cody Enterprise reports. The Shoshone Forest borders the beautiful property (above) on two sides and the terrain varies from open knolls to thick conifer forests, aspen groves and rocky outcroppings. Dotted across the ranch are four lakes and three picturesque ponds.

Named by Buffalo Bill after his youngest daughter, Irma Lake is the largest body of water with approximately 12 acres. The estate includes a 15,000-square-foot contemporary log cabin-style main residence (below) with with expansive open spaces and patios, a five-bedroom guesthouse, stables, Buffalo Bill's original cabin, a caretaker's house, and a dairy cabin. In addition to amazing views, there are several species of fish to be found on the property as well as "some of the finest big game hunting the west has to offer."

I first covered the offering of the Bell Ranch in 2007. The New Mexico ranch is still on the market and the deal has gotten better. The Bell Ranch, which was assembled by William N. Lane nearly 40 years ago, is now being offered with an additional 40,100 acres of canyon country and productive pastureland. The additional acreage contains abundant habitat for deer, turkey, bear, and an emerging population of elk, plus water features unique in the region. This brings the Bell Ranch total to 290,100 +/- contiguous fully-deeded acres, or over 453 square miles.

The Bell Ranch features Bell Mountain and a a 10,832-square feet hacienda with swimming pool and tennis courts The property includes a general manager residence and lake house, ranch offices, stables, barns, garage and storage facilities. Cowboy camps are located throughout the property. The Bell Ranch airfield (8,200' x 75' lighted dirt airstrip) has a large hangar.

The ranch is now listed a per-acre price that is 22 percent below its original listing price. At $99 million or $341 per acre for the land, and $4 million for the livestock and equipment, The Bell Ranch offers a lot of room to roam for your $103 million. The property was listed at $115 million when I covered it in 2007.

After failing to sell parcels of his 6,000-acre Pecos River ranch in New Mexico, actor Val Kilmer has now listed the entire estate for $33 million. The 49-year-old star, who recently announced that he may run for governor of New Mexico next year, says he's listing the property so that "someone who has the time and the finances" can maintain and preserve it, the Wall St. Journal reports. Back in 2006 my colleague Deirdre Woollard reported that Kilmer was offering an 1,800 acre parcel for $18 million.

The ranch, which features six miles of trout fishing, canyons, pine forests, a stable and a rock quarry, is about 25 miles southeast of Santa Fe. The main house is a 5,600-sq.-ft. log and stucco contemporary with four bedrooms. There are also two one bedroom guest houses and a two bedroom foreman's house. The star of The Doors and Batman Forever assembled the impressive property, which remains largely unspoiled, about 13 years ago.

Bicycle champ and serial dater of celebrity blond beauties, Lance Armstrong is putting his Texas vacation home on the market. Armstrong, who also has a fancy home in Austin, owns a 447.8 acre ranch in Dripping Springs, Texas. The ranch includes ownership in Deadman's Hole, a beautiful swimming hole that has a giant waterfall. According to the Real Estalker, the 17 neighboring landowners all have deeded rights to the swimming hole. In 2005, Armstrong ran afoul of his neighbors when he started building a dam on a creek on his property that feeds into the swimming hole. The neighbors said that the dam construction ended up muddying the clear waters of Deadman's Hole. Armstrong paid around $850,000 to solve the whole mess including clean-up costs and legal fees.

The ranch includes a four-bedroom main house built in 2003 as well as a one bedroom guest house. The main house has great views of the surrounding countryside. Built for entertaining, the home has an open floor plan with a kitchen, dining room and living room in one central area. The second floor features a cozy media room for watching television. The outdoor space includes a grill, patios and dining and lounging options. The guest cottage matches the main house in its rustic charm. There is also a pool and a spa and the acreage includes seven miles of bike trails. This home is listed at $12 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Real estate agents Hall and Hall usually specialize in ranches across the West but the 5,000-acre Flying G Ranch is located near Okeechobee, Florida, about 60 miles northwest of West Palm Beach. The Flying G is a 5,000+/- acre shooting/working cattle ranch located about eight miles north of Okeechobee City, Florida, the beef capital of Florida and it can hold 1,000 cattle. There's a five-bedroom lodge and cottages for guests and employees. The Wall Street Journal's Private Properties reports that one co-owner is Tucker Frederickson, the top NFL pick in 1965 and the other owner is real-estate developer Stephen Myers. There are areas for quail shooting and the land includes deer, turkey and wild hog populations. Other features include a six-stall horse barn, fire pit and barbecue which will accommodate 30 people. The property also includes a five -stand clay course, rifle and target range, bass pond and 400' zip line, dog kennels, bird flight pens and a helicopter pad. All yours for $50 million.

The Three Forks Ranch located on a huge 200,000 acre spread along the Colorado-Wyoming border, is a new ranch destination combining fly fishing, horseback riding, sport clay shooting and other rugged activities, along with the sumptuous experience of a luxury resort and spa. The 30,000-square-foot lodge has 15 rooms and details like giant-beamed cathedral ceilings and European hand-carved paneling. The 15 guest rooms have antique oriental rugs, silk-linen wallpaper, Bellisari Italian linens, Chadsworth & Haig robes and L'Occitane toiletries and all rooms in the lodge have views of the Little Snake River Valley.

The lodge's Oxbow dining room offers gourmet meals, afternoon teas and wine tastings. The Roaring Fork Spa has hot tubs, soaking pools, and four massage and treatment rooms, with treatments such as Little Snake River Stone Therapy, Sportsman's Relief Massage and the Catch-and-Release Body Wrap.

The owners of the Three Forks Lodge have gone to great lengths to restore the fish population. A plan led by hydrologist Dr. Dave Rosgen of Wildland Hydrology was developed to reduce erosion, plant new vegetation and develop wetlands, creating the largest privately funded river restoration in U.S. history and a pristine fly-fishing environment. The Three Forks Ranch fishing guides offer custom fishing opportunities for novices and those with more skills. Fishing for brook, cutthroat, brown and rainbow trout is all catch-and-release. The summer fly-fishing season runs through October 31, 2008 and the winter season which begins December 15, 2008 offers cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, alpine skiing excursions to nearby Steamboat Springs, sleigh rides and dogsledding. All rates include lodging, meals, guide, horseback riding, hiking, four-wheeling, and sporting clays and one massage treatment. A four-night room in a deluxe room costs $5000.

We don't have any interior pictures on this one but you won't be spending millions of dollars for a 2,500-square-foot, three-bedroom home anyway. With Upper Mesa Ranch, located in the San Juan National Forest in Archuleta County, Colorado, the worth is the land. The property is 340 acres with water rights and it includes a two-acre, trout-stocked pond, ample horse property, trails for riding, hiking and cross-country skiing and a wide variety of wildlife that includes elk, eagles, turkey and bears. It is located 30 minutes from the town of Pagosa Springs.

The house is knotless-cedar custom home with a 500-square-foot loft, three-car garage and covered deck for taking in the views over the unspoiled landscape. The property also includes a horse barn with three stalls, tack room, porch and outdoor corral and a gazebo. It is listed at $8,000,000.

Last October I wrote about Tom Ford's move to pay $84,000 to buy the mineral rights beneath his Galisteo ranch in order to protect his land from possible oil exploration in the region. It looks like a pretty smart investment when you consider what is happening to candy billionaire Forrest Mars Jr. Businessweek reports that Mars, who is worth around $14 billion from his family's ownership of candy company Mars Inc, has been fighting to keep a gas company off his huge Montana ranch. Pinnacle Gas Resources has a mineral lease to the land and a state judge has ruled that the company has the right to enter Mars' Diamond Cross Ranch to drill an exploratory well. The company is looking for coal-bed methane, natural gas that is often stored in thick coal seams in the region.The ranch is spread over more than 82,000 acres and Pinnacle's lease covers 10,300 acres of the property. Mars is worried that if the company does find methane they could use millions of gallons of water from underground aquifers to access it. This in turn would hurt the ranch's ability to maintain the large herds of livestock on the property. Beth Kaeding, chairwoman of the Northern Plains Resource Council, summed the situation up perfectly in an article in the Jackson Hole Star Tribune, saying: ""If you don't own the mineral rights, it doesn't matter how huge your ranch is, how politically powerful you are, how much money you have. Mineral rights trump surface rights."

Those with a hankering for luxury, a Western experience and an eco-friendly experience might want to check out The Lodge at Sun Ranch in Cameron, Montana. The Lodge is an intimate retreat at the heart of the 26,000 acre Sun Ranch. The eight-room lodge will provide guests with luxurious accommodations and a variety of experiences including hiking, fly fishing, archeology tours and horseback riding. Packages start at $900 per person, double occupancy, for a three-night basic Sun Ranch Package.

[via Alternative Consumer]

We are headed back to the South again for a look at another hunter's paradise. Legacy Ranch is actually a hunting business that is endorsed by Orvis as one of the premier Wing-Shooting Lodge Programs. The property includes a luxury lodge that sits on a 160-acre lake with five miles of the Red River and sandy beaches. The land is home to trophy elk, white tail deer and bison as well as turkey, quail, pheasant and wild boar. Legacy Ranch is listed at $14 million but I can't seem to find any information on just how much acreage it includes. Not too many pictures of the 6,000-square-foot lodge at the listing but what there is looks very rustic.

Fashion designer Tom Ford's road to tranquility in New Mexico has been anything but smooth. A couple of years ago he had to fight for approval to build his Santa Fe home. Now he has bought mineral rights beneath his Galisteo ranch in order to protect his land from possible oil exploration in the region. Ford paid $84,000 for the rights on his more than 1,400 acres of land. In the region the state maintains the rights to sell leases to energy companies. Ford's team tried to persuade the Land Office not to sell oil and gas leases to Tecton Energy, a company which plans to drill eight exploratory wells on 65,000 acres, or 101 square miles, in the Galisteo Basin. The agency however is charged with using the state trust land revenues to help fund public education. Ford's attorney, Janet McKay offered this quote to the press: "We are protecting our land by holding these rights." Ford's ranch is home to a working cattle ranch and an Old West movie set that has been used for several films, including "3:10 to Yuma."

Let's head southwest, shall we? King Ranch, located in my home state of Texas, is the largest ranch in the United States, covering 825,000 acres. In addition to ranching and farming, the modern-day King Ranch is also home to the King Ranch Saddle Shop, offering a collection of high quality leather goods, including luggage, clothing, saddles and, of course, bags. This sturdy tote is made from durable leather accented with a natural turquoise set in a silver concho. Inside, the bag is lined in cotton canvas and has a full size pocket. With just a touch of fringe and braided leather straps, this bag epitomizes modern Western style. $315.

The name is the Almost Idaho Ranch for obvious reasons, it is right near the Washington/Idaho border (although it is in Washington). The home offers your own private 49-acre lake which is surrounded by mountains. There are 497 acres total which border the Kaniksu National Forest. The ranch has three homes including the 6634 sq. ft. main home. There is also a log guest home, an outdoor entertainment porch, a miner's cabin, barns, corrals, sheds and more. It is listed at $10.8 million. After the jump,your own private lake, it makes you feel tranquil just looking at it.