At some point, Colter went on alone in a canoe down the Missouri to the Platte. He joined up with the Missouri Fur Company, led by Manuel Lisa. He went with them to the mouth of the Bighorn River, where Lisa built a fur trading fort. Lisa sent Colter out to meet with Indians and send them to the fort to trade. It is unknown exactly where he went, but records suggest he traveled throughout western Wyoming, eastern Idaho, and southwest Montana.
During his travels, Colter discovered the area which would one day become Yellowstone Park. Legend has it that when he got back to civilization and told what he saw people did not believe him. The story of his travels became known as Colter's Hell, for all the hot springs and volcanoes he had seen. In actuality, the original Colter's Hell was not at Yellowstone but on the "Stinking Water" Shoshone River near present day Cody, Wyoming. The name was given to a thermal area there. It wasn't until the 1890s, when Hiram M. Chittenden, an engineer and historian, used the term Colter's Hell to describe Yellowstone Park. No one really bothered to correct him.
In 1808, Colter was traveling with a party of Crow Indians out on a hunting expedition. Unfortunately they ran across a party of Blackfeet, that was spoiling for war with the Crows. There was a skirmish, in which Crow and Colter came out on top. From that point on, the Blackfeet were after Colter's scalp.
Later that year, while paddling the Jefferson River, he and trapper John Potts were captured by the Blackfeet. The Blackfeet were a ferocious tribe that didn't like anyone encroaching in their territory, white or Indians. In fact, they had pushed other tribes like the Shoshone further away.
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