Meet John Colter, Wyoming’s Legendary Mountain Man And Explorer

Wyoming has had numerous individuals who have shaped the state, and one of the most influential is John Colter.

Colter is one of the first mountain men to have roamed the Rocky Mountains, was part of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and was one of the first to explore Yellowstone. He's also the reason behind the nickname of one of the park's features, "Colter's Hell."

He's an American legend and a significant reason why Wyoming is what it is.

During his time running around the West, much of it was spent traveling in Wyoming. Exploring and experiencing some of the same features that we are lucky enough to see today.

Discover Lewis & Clark is a website that provides information about their expedition, adventures, and the people they encountered or interacted with. John Colter is one of the individuals featured on the site.

This is a portion of the entry about him by contributors Barbara Fifer and Joseph Mussulman. 

 Colter followed the Bighorn River upstream into Wyoming, where he saw the mineral hot springs at today’s Thermopolis—which Drouillard also passed and was the first to describe them to Lisa, but which the men at the fort for some reason dubbed “Colter’s Hell.”

Colter turned up the Shoshone River’s south fork and crossed the Continental Divide into Jackson Hole. From there he went west into Idaho before circling back to Yellowstone Lake and then along the Absaroka Mountains, possibly going through Colter’s Hell again before following the Bighorn River downstream to Fort Raymond. He mainly traveled on snowshoes, carrying at least a thirty-pound pack, plus his knife, tomahawk, powder horn and heavy rifle.

It's fun to learn about Wyoming's rich history and those who've made a lasting impact on it. John Colter is undoubtedly one of those legends to do so.

Streaming channel INSP has a series titled "Into The Wild Frontier," and 'John Colter: King of the Mountain Men' was the first episode of the first season. If you haven't seen it, you can watch it here.