sources

http://www.nndb.com/people/570/000050420/
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WWpikeZ.htm
http://www.pikes-peak.com/page/122.aspx
http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/lewisclark2/circa1804/westwardexpansion/earlyexplorers/zebulonpike.htm
http://www.famousnewjerseyans.com/public.htm
http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/colorado/pikes-peak
http://www.royalgorgebridge.com/

Timeline

1.(January 5, 1779)Zebulon Montgomery Pike was born in Lamberton, New Jersey (now part of Trenton)
2. (1794) Zebulon pike becomes cadet at age 15.
3.(1801) gets married to Clarissa Brown.
4.  (August 9th, 1805) Pike started his first expedition from St.Louis.
5.(February 1st, 1806) Pike went to Cass Lake, the beginning of the Mississippi.
6. (April 30, 1806) Arrived back in Lt. Louis  from first expedition.
7.(July 15,1806) left on second expedition  from St. Louis.
8.( November, 1806) turned around at Pike's Peak.
9. (February 26, 1807)  Pike is captured by Spanish.
10. (July 1, 1807) arrived back in the U.S.
11. (April 17, 1813) Pike was killed in the attack on York (now Toronto) Canada.

returning to the U.S

The Spanish returned Pike and his men to Natchitoches, Louisiana on July 1, 1807.  In 1810 he published his final report of the expedition as a book. It was filled with much valuable information and was widely read.  Among this information was the fact that the borderlands between Spanish Mexico and the U.S was as good as the rest of the Louisiana purchase. This caused a large U.S. interest in that region. Some people think that this interest helped fuel the Mexican-American war sixty years in the future. However, despite all of this, Pike never did locate the headwaters of the Red River.

Information on the Spanish

In Santa Fe, Pike's baggage was searched and Governor Allencaster of Santa Fe, inspected Pike's commission and orders. Then Pike and his men were taken to Chihuahua, Mexico, to meet with His Excellency, Commandant General Salcedo, where Pike's papers and records were again inspected and reviewed. Pike says that he was never formally under arrest on this journey and he was actually able to learn quite a bit about the military forces and the geography and political views of the local people that he met along the way. although Pike could not have guessed it, this information he got about the Spanish land would be his biggest contribution to the growth of our country.

the end of Pikes expedition

On February 7, the assistant captain of the expedition, Doctor Robinson, headed out on his own to visit Santa Fe.  Nineteen days later, a company of Spanish dragoons (men that served in the cavalry) arrested Pike and his crew as American spies coming to scope out Spanish Territory. On the 28th, Pike and most of his men left camp with the Spaniards and headed for Santa Fe. This is where the formal Pike Expedition ended.

a hard winter

Pike and his crew where not prepared for a harsh, January winter in the unforgiving Wet Mountain Valley. Foralmost two weeks, they slowly trudged South, looking for a way to go west through that great wall of mountains we now call the Sangre de Cristo.  It is , the southern most subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They emerged from the mountains at the edge of the Great Sand Dunes on January 28, 1807. They were in the San Luis Valley in the heart of winter.  It was a miserable and grueling experience.  For five days they travelled south in the valley, crossing the Rio Grande and continued until they came to the Conejos River, a tributary to the Rio Grande, at a place where warm springs flowed out of the ground and kept the river free of ice. This is where they built Pike's Stockade  and prepared to last out the winter.

Getting Lost

royal gorge

 Eventually, Pike and his crew came to the Royal Gorge.   Because of the narrowness of the gorge, they tried to find another  way west. At this point they began a series of  ineffective treks that basically  led them in circles and got them lost. Eventually, Pike came to the Arkansas River again, mistaking it for the Red River that he was searching for. . From here, Pike and a couple of his men went North to locate and map the headwaters of the river while the rest of the party went South. Four days later Pike returned to the main group. They then spent Christmas near the center of Colorado . Thinking they were now following the Red River, and that their mission was complete, they started moving back downstream. Pike then  came to the Royal Gorge again and realized their mistake. From here they turned south and   struggled up the canyon of Grape Creek and entered the Wet Mountain Valley, which is in South Colorado.