12/25/2025
🎄Christmas 1806: “Frustrated in their attempt to climb Pike’s Peak on November 27, 1806, Zebulon Pike and his party of 15 trudged on through South Park looking for the Red River, southern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase. After crossing Trout Creek Pass, the explorers came again to the Arkansas River, with food perilously low. On Christmas Eve two hunting parties shot eight buffalo, and Christmas Day was spent near the mouth of Squaw Creek (one-half mile to the south) feasting on buffalo and repairing equipment.
Early in 1807, Zebulon Pike crossed into the San Luis Valley near the Great Sand Dunes and constructed a log stockade along the Conejos River, close to present-day La Jara. The site—now reconstructed as a State Historical Monument—was where Pike was later taken prisoner by Spanish authorities.
Location:
Marker is on U.S. 285, 5 miles north of U.S. 50, on the left when traveling north. The marker is located in a small pullout parking lot, along with three associated informational markers and a covered picnic area.
