Cecil Roop is a young man who has left his wife and children to head out to the Western frontier in the 1880s. He is in search of a grizzly cub to bring back East to show on the vaudeville circuit, but along the way becomes obsessed with Big Foot legends, and his focus shifts to the hunt for the mythical creature. On his quest he picks up eccentric companions: Sutton, a circus performer in search of gold; Roy, a one-armed, toothless gold hunter; Margaret, an Indian woman; and a pack of loyal dogs. Full of high adventure, grizzly attacks, and ambushes, and set against the backdrop of the stupendous natural wonders of the West at the turn of the century, this novel is at once a picaresque adventure and the exuberant story of an unprecedented quest.
Edward Hoagland (born December 21, 1932, in New York, New York) is an author best known for his nature and travel writing. His non-fiction has been widely praised by writers such as John Updike, who called him "the best essayist of my generation."