The Adventures of Pike the Explorer

On December 14th the party came to a wide frozen river. Pike guessed correctly that it was the South Platte River. He estimated 3,000 of them, likely Comanches and Kiowas. When Pike regrouped with his men, we find that they were cold. The region was now covered in snow,. His food was running low, and several horses had died. There was no obvious trail to follow here. So Pike did the sensible thing and turned around. On December 18th his party would cross the Mosquito Range into the Southwest. They found a wide flowing river. This was the source of the Arkansas River. But Pike didn't know this so he went over