In 1806, John Colter was on his way home with the Lewis and Clark expedition after two years in the wilderness. He was a few weeks from civilization. He asked permission to leave early, turned around, and went right back into the mountains with two trappers. Over the winter of 1807 to 1808, he traveled alone through hundreds of miles of unmapped country with a 30 pound pack and a rifle. He came back talking about boiling springs, steam shooting out of the ground, and the smell of sulfur. Nobody believed him. People started calling the place "Colter's Hell." He's now considered the first white man to see parts of what became Yellowstone. Then it got worse. In 1808, Colter and his partner John Potts were trapping beaver along the Jefferson River in Montana when several hundred Blackfeet warriors surrounded them. Potts fired and was killed instantly. The Blackfeet stripped Colter completely naked, took his shoes, and gave him a short head start. Then they let their young men chase him. He ran barefoot across a plain covered in prickly pear cactus, for miles, with the soles of his feet shredding. He ran so hard that blood poured out of his nose and down his chest. When he finally looked back, only one warrior was still close. Colter stopped, turned around, and faced him. The warrior lunged with his spear, stumbled, and the spear snapped. Colter grabbed the point and killed him with it, then kept running. He reached the river and dove under a pile of driftwood. He stayed hidden there, mostly underwater, while the Blackfeet searched the banks for hours. That night he swam downstream and started walking. Naked, no weapon, no food, feet full of cactus. He lived on roots and covered roughly 200 miles before stumbling into a trading fort, where the men there didn't even recognize him. And then he went back out trapping anyway. After a few more close calls, he finally quit, moved to Missouri, got married, and died a few years later. Of all the men on the Lewis and Clark expedition, he's the one who never wanted to leave the frontier.

I'm innocent I swear! 😏

Man dies after entering tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in England

BREAKING: Aviation Week writes that NASA has contacted former SR-71 Blackbird personnel to help them get the only remaining frame back in the air