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Palliser's party camped August 20. 1858, on the Kanananskis River in the vicinity of Hood and Grizzly Creeks. To have a good look up the valley, he would have climbed the west slope of the Opal Range to the approximate height of Highway 40 from where the above photograph was taken. With the naked eye, the morning sun. and no obstruction from trees, Palliser would also have had a clearer view south than this photo provides.

In the Palliser Papers of Friday, 20 August, 1858, appears the following entry:

"Two very conspicuous mountains at a distance of about 12 miles to the south of us flank the height of land across which we shall have to pass to gain the western side of the Watershed." Here Palliser idenifies the pass which he will cross and names it Kananaskis Pass.

Was Palliser's Kananaskis Pass - today's Elk Pass?

John Palliser's Exploration of the Canadian Rockies

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