Existing comment:
A Cultural Crossroads:
In November of 1806, Army Lt. Zebulon Montgomery Pike and his group of explorers spotted something resembling a "small blue cloud" on the distant horizon. The next day, his men gave a mighty cheer for the "Mexican Mountains." They soon set up camp with a view of the pinnacle that would one day be named Pikes Peak. Pike and his men had succeeded in identifying a mountain that had served as a guiding landmark of this region for thousands of years prior to their arrival.
"The summit of the Grand Peak, which was entirely bare of vegetation and covered with snow, now appeared at a distance of 15 or 16 miles from us, and as high again as what we had ascended, and would have taken a whole day's march to have arrived at its base, when I believe no human being could have ascended to its pinical [sic]." - Zebulon Montgomery Pike |