"In 1804, John Colter set out with Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on the first US expedition to traverse the North American continent. During the twenty-eight month ordeal, Colter served as hunter and scout. When the journey was over, Colter spent two more years trekking alone through dangerous and unfamiliar territory. Historian David Weston Marshall crafts this captivating history from Colter's primary sources and has retraced Colter's steps--seeing what he saw, hearing what he heard, and experiencing firsthand how he and his contemporaries survived in the wilderness (how they pitched a shelter, built a fire, followed a trail, and forded a stream)--immersing you in Colter's frontier world."--Page 4 of cover.